Brothers of Terra
by Krimson Rogue
Summary: How could it have taken Zidane so long to return to Garnet? What happened to him after he dove into the Iifa Tree? Rated T for some violence and language.
1. Starting Point

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Square-Enix. I just own this story.

Krimson: Thank you for taking the time to read this. This is my first fanfic and I'd appreciate any helpful reviews to tell me how I'm doing.

Damien: Yo.

Krimson: And this is Damien, the voice in my head who tells me to do things…

Damien: BURN THEM ALL! ELIMINATE THE WEAK!

Krimson: …Bad things.

Damien: I just criticize his work a lot.

Krimson: Evil maniacal voice-person.

Damien: Ooh, good one.

Krimson: rolls eyes Please enjoy Chapter 1: Starting point.

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"U...Ugh..."   Zidane stood up  after being flung around like a rag doll while riding the Iifa Tree's roots to the center of the trunk. "Phew... Still alive..." He looked around.  "I guess that was pretty crazy."  Zidane ran up a nearby root and arrived to see Kuja, laying on a small platform, dying.  "Hey! Are you alright?" He wasn't. Kuja had sustained multiple cuts and had a few broken bones from the cataclysmic fight earlier and was bleeding badly.

"Zidane...?" Kuja looked over at him, blood covering one eye. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go..."

"Wouldn't you do the same for me if you knew I was dying?"

"... Never mind." Zidane didn't really like the answer, but given his brother's state, decided not to pursue the matter.  "Your comrades were able to escape?"

"Yeah... I knew you had something to do with it."

"... I'm glad they made it."

"Yeah, well...it's our turn to get movin'." Zidane said, looking around for a way out. The area they were in was rather concealed. There were few openings for light to come through, but those were clearly out of reach since there were no roots which reaches them, and the walls weren't climbable.

"... ... I don't deserve to live after all that I've done. I'm useless to this world." Kuja said drearily.

"No one's useless... You helped us escape, remember?"

"... After you and your comrades defeated me, I had nothing left... nothing more to lose. Then, I finally realized what it means to live..." Kuja says. "I guess I was too late."  Kuja tilted his head to one side and closed his eyes; he remained motionless  "Hey! Don't you go dying on me, alright?" Zidane protested.

Suddenly dozens of roots from the Iifa Tree shot out from the wall, each one headed for the platform the two were talking on. "WATCH OUT!" Zidane screamed, pulling out his Ultima Weapon.

Kuja could only watch helplessly as his own brother, who Kuja had earlier attemped to not only kill, but utterly destroy, did his best to keep the hordes of roots away.

Much as he tried, the roots were too powerful for Zidane to stop. He could only use the length of his weapon to deflect them away from the platform, hoping that none if them would get behind him and kill Kuja.

"Zidane, get out of here and just let them kill me!" Kuja protested.

"I can't!" Zidane said, just barely deflecting another root in time. "I'm not going to abandon you Kuja!"

"Fool" Kuja said, mostly to himself. Laying on his back, Kuja saw some more roots sprout out from the walls above him. Weakened as he was, he didn't register what was going on in time. "Zidane…"

Kuja's warning came a second too late. The roots managed too smash the platform right between the two Genomes. Zidane looked back to see what happened and had just enough time to see Kuja's horrified expression before he realized that he was falling away. The roots managed to separate the platform into two, with Zidane on the unsupported half. Instinctively, he reached up to grab the ledge, but it was too little, too late. Zidane realized that the fall was going to kill him. He couldn't believe it. _I fight the monsters of the world, run around to a different continent trying to stop a national war, travel to another planet, travel to another _dimension_, and I'm going to die from a stupid fall inside a tree! I'm sorry Dagger. I couldn't keep my promise._ That was the most painful part.

Zidane shut his eyes, silently praying that Dagger new he loved her, thinking about how he was never going to see her again. Then, the unexpected happened.

Kuja reached down and grabbed Zidane's wrist.

"Kuja!"

"You really should've listened to me." Kuja said. He hung there limply, his arm was badly cut and some of the blood was seeping down his arm. Zidane could see the utter pain it was causing Kuja by his expression. Not wanting to cause his brother more pain, he reached up from Kuja's arm to edge of the platform and pulled himself up.

"I guess I owe you another one" Zidane said, pulling his legs up. Kuja, despite his condition, managed to chuckle a bit at this. Zidane did likewise while pushing Kuja into a more comfortable position against a root right next to the platform.

The lightened mood was abruptly cut off however, when one final root came out of the wall towards them at high speeds. "Look out!" Kuja said, pushing Zidane away from the vine's path. Zidane tumbled into another root to avoid falling off the platform again, and looked back to see Kuja sitting upright…

…with the root piercing his stomach.

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Krimson: So how'd I do?

Damien: …meh.

Krimson: I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to all the nice people who are about to review the story. (Please?)


	2. Escape

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. Square-Enix does. I just wrote this story.

Krimson- And now for those of you who like really long chapters-

Damien- -here's Krimson compensating for himself!

Krimson- Dude! Shut up! I'm not compensating for anything!

Damien- Then why's the chapter so long?

Krimson- There was just a lot of things to cover, that's all.

Damien- Are you sure? Because you know you-

Krimson- And before things get really inappropriate, here's Chapter 2: Escape.

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"KUJA!"

The root had gone straight through Kuja. Zidane could see the root clearly through Kuja's back. His blood was seeping down the root. _So this is it._ Zidane thought. _After all I've done to try to save him, it wasn't enough. Kuja's going to die._

"Zi…dane…" Kuja tried to say, but it was very weak. Zidane could see Kuja's mouth move. He moved closer to Kuja's side. "What is it?" Zidane asked.

"Zi…dane…" Kuja said again, this time with a smile. "Don't…wo..rry…" His speech was very broken and it was obvious that it hurt him to talk.

"Don't talk Kuja." Zidane said. He didn't know what to do. Kuja had a giant stick sticking out of his stomach. Even if he had a million potions, it wouldn't do any good. Kuja's only hope relied on Zidane having something in his inventory which could help. _But what?_ Zidane thought. _Some Hi-potions? Not with this kind of injury. Elixir? Strong, but it wouldn't be enough. A phoenix down? No. They're strong, but Kuja has a hole in his stomach. Phoenix down's have their limits. It's probably too late already._ Kuja had to be dead by now. Zidane looked at his brother's face and noticed that Kuja was mumbling something.

"Kuja…?"

Kuja looked up and stared at the root protruding from his stomach and gradually tried to put his hand on the root.

"Kuja, what are you doing?"

Kuja, still attempting his futile efforts whispered "Hand…on…root…"

"What?" Zidane didn't understand. Kuja was dying from impalement and he wanted to give the giant root doing so a pat? "Kuja, I don't underst-"

"Zidane!" Kuja's voice came out sharper than it should have. Kuja had closed his eyes and used the pain he was feeling to amplify his voice. Zidane, still not knowing what was going on, took Kuja's hand and placed it on the top of the root. Kuja just smiled.

And he stopped moving.

"Kuja?" _No_, Zidane thought. _He can't be dead. He can't be dead! _Zidane didn't even try to fight his tears back. His own brother had just died in front of him because he had gotten careless and let his guard down. Now all Zidane could do for Kuja was give him a proper burial.

Of course he would first get rid of the root still stuck in Kuja. Zidane stood up and took out his Ultima Weapon. He drew his weapon back, and stopped as he noticed that the wound in Kuja's stomach was emitting a soft green light. It briefly reminded Zidane of the light he saw at the bottom of the Iifa Tree. He also noticed that the wound seemed to be closing, cutting off the root at the point it impacted into Kuja.

"Kuja?" There was no way Zidane could be seeing this. Kuja should have died the second the root ran him through. At first, all Zidane could do is stare in wonderment as the wound got smaller and smaller. When it finally closed, the rest of the root fell from Kuja onto the platform floor as well as the part of the root sticking out Kuja's back. Whatever the technique was that Kuja had used had managed to sever the root and heal him completely. Even the wounds inflicted upon him in battle were gone.

"How…how…" was all Zidane could manage at first.

Kuja laid down on the platform, apparently exhausted from healing himself.

"Kuja?"

"I'm fine." Kuja said gruffly. He felt his stomach to make sure he was truly healed. He ran his hand on his stomach and found that his wound was, in fact, completely healed. There wasn't even any blood.

Zidane sighed in relief. "That's great. But, Kuja, what was that?"

"Hmm?"

"That light. And your wound is gone. How'd you do that?"

"Oh." Kuja responded, still lying down. "Well, think about it. The Iifa Tree is the tree of life. For it to be able to channel souls on the level that it does, it needs a powerful source of life to start with."

Zidane's eyes lit up. "The green stuff at the bottom of the tree!"

"Elegantly put. But yes, I used the rest of my energy to absorb that liquid through the root in order to regenerate myself. That should also stop the Iifa Tree's roots from attacking us any more.

"Wait, what about what Garland said, about you dying soon?"

"The life energy of the tree will also nullify that. I'll be fine now. However, I don't think I will be able to use my magic for awhile."

"Wait, you mean you're completely out of magic? Why don't you use an ether?"

"It's not the same thing as running out of MP. My magic has been bound by the magic of the Iifa Tree. It's the only drawback to the spell I just used."

"How long are you stuck like this?"

"I don't know. I've found only enough information to cast the spell. I don't know how long the side-effects last."

"Well, that's okay." Zidane assured him. "I'll do the fighting until you can cast magic again. Now, let's get outta here."

"Zidane?"

"Yeah?"

"How?"

**5 Months later.**

Zidane was returning from yet another unsuccessful attempt to find a way outside of the Iifa Tree's trunk. "No luck again, I assume?" Kuja asked, tending to the fire he had started in order to cook lunch for the two of them.

"Mmf." Zidane replied. He always ventured on these sorts of trips for hours at a time every day. Unfortunately, the trunk was too thick to carve through with the Ultima Weapon. Even trying could take years to complete. Zidane had started on a section of the eastern side of the tree which seemed slightly drier and more decayed than the wood around it, but to no avail. He tried for two months but was only able to carve away about five feet of wood. Now he spent his time exploring every corner of the trunk for holes or anything he could find to help them get out.

Kuja's magic still wasn't working. He spent his time carving poetry into the nearby roots using a rock he had found, which he found very relaxing and was essential considering how much bickering Zidane could do when he got angry. Kuja also spent time cooking the various plants the two managed to find growing throughout the tree's interior. Since there was so much they didn't need to worry about running out of food for a very long time. The only problem was…

"So what's for lunch today, Kuja?" Zidane asked tiredly.

"Mushrooms."

"What? But we've had mushrooms every day for the last two weeks!"

… a complete lack of variety. That and combined with being completely isolated with each other for so long was beginning to get on both of their nerves.

"Well if you're not content to have the same thing over and over, why don't you scavenge for food, and I'll spend my time looking for a way out which doesn't exist!"

"Hey, it's a _very_ big tree. This isn't an easy job."

"Just accept the fact that we're stuck here Zidane. Until I can use my magic again, we have no realistic chance of getting out of here."

"Why do you think only you can get us out of here? If I look around the roots-"

"You know that searching there won't do us any good. The roots all sank in on themselves. This tree is just one big tube now!"

"So are you suggesting that we try climbing up the inside of the trunk then? What if we slip? If we fall from those heights, there's no way we'll survive."

"There aren't many other options open to us."

"You know what?" Zidane said, approaching the fire, "I bet you're just being lazy. You don't feel like using magic for some reason." Having this argument so often put Zidane on the offensive. Logic didn't apply.

"How dare you. Do you have any idea what kind of a strain that healing spell put on me? I could barely move for a week!"

"Yeah, I remember. I had to baby you for the whole time!"

"Don't belittle me!"

"Or what Kuja? You'll dress funny at me to death? Without your magic I'm the stronger one here, so either help me find a way out of here, or learn to use your magic faster!"

"Don't you dare tell me what to do you immature, whining brat!"

"Don't call me a brat you stuck-up, thong-wearing freak!"

That was Kuja's breaking point. Even with all the patience he normally showed, being stuck with Zidane for so long had finally taken its toll on him.

"SHUT UP!" Kuja yelled, stomping his foot hard on the ground, flames shooting off all around it.

At first, neither was sure what had happened. The fire Kuja had already started for lunch could have just jumped a bit. But upon closer inspection they noticed the scorch marks around where Kuja's foot had been. Zidane looked at Kuja, and Kuja looked at Zidane. They grabbed the mushrooms they had set out for themselves and took off for the eastern half of the tree.

**Hours later.**

"This is the spot!" Zidane said. They had reached the part of the trunk Zidane had desperately tried to carve away at. It was the small section which Zidane carved about five feet into. "Are you sure this is enough?"

"This will be fine." Kuja said calmly. He spread his arms out in front of him. "Step back Zidane."

Zidane walked behind a nearby root, knowing how powerful Kuja's attacks could be. And this attack would be even more concentrated than what he had fought in Memoria. Kuja's plan involved him using all of his magic in the dent in the wall to amplify the power of the blast to knock out the wall entirely. Kuja reached into the vast pockets of strength he had, beckoning every last ounce of power he had within him. His eyes lit up.

"_Flare Star!_"

The dent in the wall started to glow when all of a sudden an earth-shattering explosion shook the tree down to its very core. Splinters and flaming wood went flying everywhere. When the dust cleared, the way out, was still not in sight.

Kuja, exhausted from the attack, had to sit down. "Damn it! That should have been enough!" he said.

Although the blast didn't clear the way entirely, it had made great progress. Zidane walked into the newly formed corridor to inspect the progress. What started as a small carving into the wall was now a spherical room with a ten foot radius in every direction.

"Kuja that was awesome!" Zidane exclaimed. "Another one of those and we should be out of here!"

Kuja, out of breath, said "I don't think I can do that again. Give me a while to rest."

"Damn it!" Zidane said. "We were so close!" He leaned up against the furthest part of the wall Kuja managed to cut out. He wondered if he really would get to see Garnet again. _Is she thinking about me? What does she do now that I'm not around her? Hang out with the others? Run Alexandria with ol' rust-bucket constantly hovering over her? Feed birds? …wait, why'd I think that?_

Zidane listened closer and realized that he could hear birds just on the other side of the trunk. There couldn't be any more than a few inches left!

"Kuja! We're close!" He said.

"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Kuja asked sleepily.

Zidane pulled out his Ultima Weapon and thrust it deep into the wall. When he pulled it back out, sunlight shone through. Zidane smiled back at Kuja and said "Grab something and help me." Zidane continued to stab at the wall, slowly cutting a hole big enough for them to crawl through. Kuja didn't have anything to use as a weapon and there weren't any tools he could use nearby. He pulled out an ether and drank it. A little bit of his MP returned to him, but it was enough.

"Zidane! Move away from the wall!" Kuja said.

Looking back, Zidane nodded. He exited the blasted out room and stood around the corner to Kuja's right. Kuja focused his energy for one more spell.

"_FLARE!_"

The magic concentrated on the remaining inches of wood separating the brothers from the outside world. The light and heat of the flare spell quickly burned away the thin layer blocking their way out and allowed the sunlight to pour through the newly created hole.

"We're out Kuja."

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Damien- Wow, that was longer than I remembered.

Krimson- Don't start that again!

Damien- Please Read and Review. Otherwise 'compensation man' over here is going to be whining all night.

Krimson- HEY!


	3. Different Plans

Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy or any of its characters. Square-Enix does. If I did own Final Fantasy I'd probably end up running the company into the ground. I'm really bad at business plans.

Damien- I've been reading your profile.

Krimson- Oh really?

Damien- You've got a nickname for your nickname?

Krimson- Yup! Krimson instead of Krimson Rogue.

Damien- What's wrong with you?

Krimson- And now for Chapter 3: Different Plans!

Damien- ANSWER MY QUESTION!

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The two brothers basked in the sunlight which bravely poured in from their newly created pathway to freedom. After months of imprisonment, they had finally found means of escape.

"If we spent one more day in that tree I would've gone crazy." Zidane said.

"Indeed." Kuja responded. "Shall we leave then?"

"Oh, yeah!"

After some time walking down the few roots which had stayed in place rather than coil around the trunk of the tree, the two noticed that the mist was still in place at the base of the tree. It looked like the same amount of mist that was there before was still there.

"Kuja, isn't that mist?"

"I believe it is."

"Shouldn't the mist have stopped flowing?" Zidane asked.

Kuja looked at the mist and stood in thought. After a short while, he brought his head up. "If Terra was really destroyed, then the flow of souls was cut off. There should be no mist."

"Then what's that? Fog?"

"I wonder…?" Kuja thought aloud and ran down the root they were walking on and ran up to the mist. He cupped his hand in the mist and examined it. His eyes shot open in surprise.

"What is it?" Zidane asked after catching up.

"This mist is lighter than normal." Kuja said. He trailed off in thought. After a few seconds of thinking, Kuja stood up and said "Well, thank you for the assistance back there Zidane, but I'm afraid this is where we must part."

"What?" Zidane exclaimed. "You're going to leave just like that?"

"I have something I need to take care of. Besides, don't you have a canary to return to?"

"Well, yeah, but we should stick together. What if we run into a monster?"

"Zidane, after the events in Memoria, none of the monsters on Gaia should be any challenge."

"But what are you going to do? Maybe I can help."

"No thank you Zidane. I can handle it on my own. Now farewell and have a good life."

With that, Kuja walked off. Zidane watched as his brother grew smaller in the distance. Zidane realized that he would have to find his own way home. Kuja was his own person and Zidane couldn't control him.

Facing the East, Zidane started off towards Conde Petie for supplies and more importantly, food. Oh, how he wanted real food instead of mushrooms or moss or some other kind of fungus. His food supplies would only last a day so he would have to hurry as much as he could. Zidane took his leave of the tree he was imprisoned in for so long.

**Two days later**

Zidane was amazed at how long it took him to walk this far. He must have been deprived of more nutrients than he realized. _Well,_ _maybe a chocobo pie or a leg of griffin will help cure that_, Zidane thought He approached the walkway up to the strange dwarven city and greeted the guards.

"Rally-ho!" Zidane said enthusiastically. He was so hungry that he was willing to put up with this bizarre little habit of the dwarves.

"Rally-ho!" the guards said in reply. "An' who might ye be?"

"I am Zidane of Tantalus!" he described in his overly practiced introduction.

"Tantal-who?" one of the guards asked.

_Oh, right, they don't know me out here_. Zidane thought to himself. "Uh, I was with a girl named Dagger and we got married here and-"

"Och, aye! The one hundredth couple!" the other guard exclaimed. "Have ye returned from the Sanctuary?"

"Sanctuary?" Zidane thought. "Oh, you mean the Iifa Tree. Yes we have."

"Aye that was mor'n a month ago." Said the first guard. "This is surly deservin' of a feast."

Zidane couldn't believe his luck. Not only was he going to get to eat, he was going to get to eat a feast! And he was going to be the center of attention too. Not a bad combo.

"But that long out in'na Sanctuary." Said the second guard. "His bride must be waiting for three children at least."

"What?" Zidane asked, very confused. _Why would they think Dagger- OH MY GOD!_

The trips that the dwarves took out to the Iifa Tree for their honeymoon wasn't for sightseeing. It was for-

"You think that Dagger and I…"

"Aye?"

"…had…sex?"

"Aye."

Zidane almost fell on his back. Sure, he had thought about the subject before, but being accused of actually doing it was nerve-wracking,

"Wait," Zidane said weakly. "We never…actually…"

"Where is yer bride anyway?" the first guard asked. "We cannae have a feast withoot the bride an'na groom."

"Oh, uh," Zidane said, still trying to recover from the sudden shock a minute ago. "She's not here."

"Wha?" the guard asked.

"Yeah, she's across the ocean in a place called Alexandria."

"But she is expecting a child, right?"

"Well, no. We never actually…did it."

The guards just stared off as if they got hit in the back of the head with a club.

"Um, could I still get some food?" Zidane was as nervous as Vivi. First there was the presumption that he had slept with Dagger, now the two guards looked like they were going to maul him. What a day.

"Hello?"

"GIT OUTTA HERE YE DAMN BLASPHEMER!"

"NE'ER RETURN TAE CONDE PETIE AGIN'"

Zidane ran from the city as fast as he could. Although the dwarves were small, they could adopt a look of such ferocity it would make a behemoth cringe.

After running for a long time, Zidane came to the fork in the road where he, Dagger, Vivi, and Eiko all fought the giant Hilgigars. Oglops were running about everywhere. _I wonder if I could eat them?_ Zidane thought. By now he was on the brink of starvation. He staggered along the canyon wall, unsure of where he was headed. He was tired, hungry, and exhausted. The dry air in the area really wasn't helping.

As Zidane walked his vision started to tunnel and become blurry. Zidane tried to stay conscious as long as he could. There had to be food somewhere nearby. Once Zidane got some food he could find some way across the ocean. But with all the recent events leading up to this point and how hungry he was, even moving became a chore. Then Zidane, despite his best efforts, passed out.

Nearby, a woman saw him collapse. "Grab his legs." She said to her two companions. "I'll get his arms."

Zidane woke up in a small room. There was little light entering the windows, but there was a candle sitting on a table across the room. There was a bookcase filled with scripts written by Lord Avon. Zidane sat up and saw that he was lying down on a table. _I've been in this room before!_ Zidane thought. _This is Eiko's house!_

"So you're awake."

Zidane turned to face the kitchen entrance and saw the axe-wielding beauty Lani. Morrison and Momatose the moogles were standing next to her, one to each side.

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Damien- You really talked about food a lot.

Krimson- An important note to my fellow writers: don't write while you're hungry.

Damien- Is that what's wrong with you?

Krimson- Maybe. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get a sandwich. (Leaves)

Damien- Hey! Aren't you going to ask… (sigh) please read and review.


	4. Unexpected Emotion

Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy IX or any of the characters in the story.

Author's note: I might no be able to update for a while because my little brother's getting surgery and I've been charged with taking care of him while he recovers. I'll update again as soon as I can.

Chapter 4: Unexpected Emotion

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"Lani? What are you doing here?" Zidane asked. He stepped off the table and stood at the other side of the table as her.

"Rescuing you." she said, placing a grilled fish on the table in front of him. Zidane's mouth watered at the very sight of real food. He greedily went for the fish, grabbing at it with his bare hands.

"You really were hungry weren't you?"

"Mmf" Zidane said with his mouth full.

After putting about half of the fish in his mouth, Zidane swallowed and took a few deep breaths. "Thanks Lani, but why are you in Madain Sari?"

"After Red chased me out of the Eidolon Wall I was forced to camp out a few miles away from here. Later that evening he found me and told me that if I ever came near any of you again he'd kill me."

"Amarant said that?"

"He said that he wanted to finish you off himself."

Zidane rolled his eyes. "That sounds like him."

Lani had a distant look on her face. She stared at the ground as if in thought. Zidane recognized this expression. He had caused it plenty of times.

"You like him don't you?" Zidane asked.

"What? That punk?"

"I know that look." Zidane said, going back to his roots of hitting on girls.. "I've seen plenty of girls look at me like that."

"Hmph," Lani scoffed and walked back into the kitchen. "So what?" she said from the other room. "There's no way he'd give me a chance."

Zidane followed her. The kitchen was the same as it was before. A cutting block on a table to the left and two ovens off to the right. Pots and pans were scattered everywhere. There was also some chairs sitting on the small porch which overlooked the waterfall just beyond the small room.

"That's not true." He said. "He might not seem like it, but he's a different person now. I'm sure he'll at least listen if you talk to him."

Zidane noticed that Lani had the same distant expression on her face as before, but this time it was much sadder. Zidane changed the subject in order to lighten the mood.

"You still haven't told me why you're here." he said.

Lani walk over to the walkway leading to the room below and leaned on the ropes used as a guardrail. "Well, I tried getting back to the Mist Continent, but Fossil Roo was blocked and the Alexandrian Fleet was destroyed right before my eyes. I became so weak after wandering around for days. Then the moogles here rescued me. That's when I realized I've been selfish all my life."

Hearing Lani talk about her unexpected exile, Zidane realized he didn't have a plan to get back home. He hadn't put any thought into it and had merely assumed that something convenient would come by.

"It's so wonderful living with the moogles. I haven't thought about money once since I've been here. I'm glad things turned out the way they did."

"But now you're stuck on another continent away from everyone you know. Doesn't that get to you at all?"

"I didn't have any friends." Lani snapped. "I made my living by hunting people down and killing them! That's all. I have nothing to go back to."

After giving Lani a second to calm down Zidane asked "What about Amarant?"

"What about him?"

"I know you like him. Even if you won't admit it."

"Do you ever stop talking?"

Zidane leaned back against the wall. "Nope." He answered with a smile.

Lani looked at him with a scowl and turned to walk down the stairs into the small storage room below the kitchen. Zidane walked to the platform with the two chairs and sat in the one closer to the waterfall. After a minute Morrison came to stand by his side. All the other moogles of Madain Sari were behind him.

"Excuse me Zidane," Morrison began, "But we all believe it would be better if you helped Lani leave Madain Sari."

"Really?" Zidane responded. "But why?"

"Although none of the moogles mind her being here, it's not healthy for her. She should be out living an enjoyable life rather than condemning herself to a life where she suppresses her feelings for those she cannot see."

Zidane was set back. Morrison was rather well spoken for a moogle.

"Please," he continued. "Help her leave the village and return to those she loves."

Zidane took a minute to consider the seriousness of the situation. Lani would be a valuable ally against the monsters they would inevitably fight on the way home, but she was unpredictable, as proven by the argument just few minutes ago. Zidane thought to himself. The best way to convince Lani to leave would be to give her a few more minutes and then apologize and promise to help her out however he could.

"Sure," Zidane answered Morrison. "I'll help her."

"Thank you Zidane." Morrison said.

"Besides, I can't leave a girl helpless like this." Zidane said standing up.

Zidane turned to walk down to the lower room. As he entered the room he saw that it had been turned from a somewhat of a storage room into a small bedroom for Lani. She was sitting on the bed facing away from the door looking out at the cliffs.

"Lani?" Zidane began.

"I've been thinking." Lani said. "The only reason I became a bounty hunter was because I never had any friends when I was a kid."

Lani turned and Zidane could see that she had been crying. This was a side of Lani that no one had ever seen before.

"Everyone always picked on me because I was more athletic than them. I could even beat all of the boys in my neighborhood in a race. I got shunned because of it."

Zidane still stood in the doorframe. He was touched by Lani's story. He had always assumed that she was a raving lunatic with a big axe. Lani really had human emotions.

"But then you come along, acting like you care."

"I do care." Zidane protested.

"Bullshit!" Lani yelled. "Nobody cares about me. No one ever has, no one ever will."

"Maybe if you gave someone else a chance, they'd turn out to be nicer than you thought."

"But I tried to kill you!" Lani began. "I've set traps, I've fought you, I even kidnapped that small purple haired girl and used her for ransom. You should hate me!"

"But I don't." Zidane put he hand on Lani's shoulder and smiled his best smile at her.

"I don't understand you."

"You sound just like my brother."

Lani managed a slight grin from this, then turned and looked out at the cliffs again.

"Tell you what," Zidane said. "Come with me back to the Mist Continent." Lani looked at Zidane in surprise. She really didn't understand him. "When we get back, we'll find Amarant and I'll help you get a date with him."

"What if he says no?" Lani asked skeptically.

Zidane thought for a moment then smiled and said "Then I'll let you kick my ass."

Lani smiled back in appreciation for Zidane's kind thought. "Sure." She said, brushing away any signs of tears from her face and changed her smile from a kind one to a jokingly evil one. "But tell anyone you saw me like this and I'll kill you where you stand."

Zidane laughed. "Agreed." He turned to leave, intent on finishing that grilled fish from earlier.

"By the way," Lani said, stopping him in his tracks. "I saw some writing down at the Eidolon Wall that you might want to check out."

"Really?" Zidane asked. "What does it say?"

"I didn't get it. I think it would be easier if you saw it yourself."

Zidane nodded and walked out from Lani's room to the Eidolon Wall. The last time he was here was a little before he left with Garnet, Vivi, and Eiko to the Iifa Tree. He never really paid the wall much attention since he couldn't summon and it wasn't really important to him, but it was important to the summoners and to Garnet and Eiko. He stepped carefully when he entered the circular room, trying to be as respectful as he could. A lot of the wall was cracked and worn. Finding whatever Lani was talking bout would take some effort. However, after a few minutes of searching, under a fading picture of what appeared to be Ifrit, he saw:

_I survived the storm._

_I wonder if you two are okay?_

_I see the two of you smile_

_every time I close my eyes._

_I imagine I see you_

_when I open my eyes._

_I have a mortal wound._

_I won't be able to wait_

_for you very long._

_I regret being so unemotional_

_for all these years._

_I'm writing down everything here_

_in the hope that you'll read it someday._

_To my dearest wife Jane,_

_Although we fought many times,_

_and I may not have shown my affection_

_enough, I love you very much._

_To my beloved daughter, Sarah,_

_My life changed when you were born._

_You made me happy._

_These are the things I want you to know._

Zidane couldn't believe it. Zidane recalled the memory he saw in Memoria of the woman getting into a boat with a young girl during a storm. He was on a small bridge over the two as he saw the two board a small boat which was falling apart with rags for sails. The girl mentioned in the passage, Sarah, had to be the same person as Garnet. _Dagger's real name is Sarah?_ Zidane said to himself in disbelief. Garnet's father had written this message so that he could tell his daughter that he loved her. Zidane placed his hand on the wall, on top of the writing.

_I promise I'll bring her here one day._

**The Next Day.**

"Are you ready yet?" Lani belted out at Zidane as she waited by the entrance to Madain Sari.

"I'm coming, hold on." Zidane said as he came running up towards her. Zidane and Lani had been given backpacks full of food and supplies by the moogles. They would easily last a week out in the wild with what they had now. And with Zidane's new plan of getting past the guards at Conde Petie, he could be by Garnet's side in less than a month.

"Took you long enough."

"Geez, sorry."

"Whatever. Let's go."

All the moogles stood waving goodbye to the two visitors.

"Goodbye!"

"Have a safe trip!"

"Tell Eiko to visit us!"

"Kupo kupo!"

Zidane and Lani set off, heading back towards the city of the dwarves and their way back to the Mist continent.

**Meanwhile…**

Kuja had been walking all night looking for the spot on his map. It was a badly drawn map with everything either scribbled or horribly out of scale. Not to mention how his improper nourishment was weakening him. Kuja could survive out in the wild for a long time, but the food available really didn't suit his pallet. There was nothing but roots and various plants, but Kuja didn't really worry about himself. He had a mission.

After days of searching and massive confusion from the bad map, Kuja had finally found the location on his map. He grinned to himself.

"Soon."

----------------

Krimson- Too tired to think of a skit this week. Sorry.

Damien- Why do I always end up asking this? Please Read and Review.


	5. Finally, a Fight Scene!

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the characters in this story or in Final Fantasy at all, and I doubt I ever will.

Krimson- Well, my little brother had his surgery and now his jaw is wired shut for the next month.

Damien- This line is just filler.

Krimson- I'll update as much as I can, but things tend to get pretty hectic at my house.

Damien- This line is also filler.

Krimson- Once I get back on campus in a month I should be able to go back to updating weekly.

Damien- I'm not letting you write my lines anymore.

Krimson- This is Chapter 5: Finally, a Fight Scene!

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The valley between Conde Petie and the Black Mage Village was arid and dry the first time Zidane had passed through. Now that the roots of the Iifa Tree had receded, the walls of the valley were beginning to grow a nice shade of emerald green, which would have been nice to look at if it weren't for Lani giving Zidane a constant death stare.

"I said I was sorry." Zidane said.

Lani kept staring daggers into Zidane's forehead.

"Please stop doing that."

"It's your own damn fault." Lani said.

"But that was the only way we could get passed the dwarves."

"No, that was the only way _you_ could get passed the dwarves. I could've just walked by."

"Okay, I'm sorry again."

Lani took her axe off her back and swung it with tremendous force right in front of Zidane's feet. The blade of the axe was just a few inches away from cutting off Zidane's toes. This was the kind of behavior Zidane worried about when he agreed to take Lani along with him.

"Do that again," Lani said, "and I'll cut off your foot. Got it?"

"Yeah." Zidane said. He really didn't feel like fighting Lani over something like this. She was right after all. He should have told her what the plan was before they arrived at Conde Petie, but if Zidane had done that, there was no way Lani would have agreed to it.

**Flashback**

Zidane and Lani were walking along the path leading to Conde Petie. Zidane was a little worried about his plan working, but he was even more worried about what the repercussions were going to be.

As they approached the city of the dwarves, Zidane leaned slightly over to Lani and whispered "Remember, let me do the talking."

"Just don't get us killed." Lani whispered back, unsuspecting of anything.

The two guards Zidane had angered the other day were standing in front of the doorway into the city again. The two eyed Zidane suspiciously as he approached them with Lani by his side.

"Och, yer're the blasphemer!" the first guard accused.

"Well, yeah but-" Zidane started to say.

"We told ye ne'er to show yerself here agin'!" the other guard said.

"Guys, hold on!" Zidane managed to say. "This is Dagger." He said indicating Lani, who was confused as hell.

Lani pulled Zidane to one side. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked.

"Just play along. I'll take care of this." Zidane responded.

They both approached the guards again and Zidane took Lani by the hand. "As I said before, this is Dagger, the girl I married." Lani didn't like having someone hold her hand and showed Zidane by twisting his fingers with hers, but kept on smiling for show anyway.

The guards both eyed Lani strangely. "She looks different. Dinnae she have black hair?" The first guard said.

"Well, being out in the Sanctuary for that long will do that to you." Zidane said, being careful not to offend the dwarves by using words they weren't used to.

"But dinnae you say she was far away? In Alexandria?" the second guard asked.

"Well, Alexandria is just a few hours away if you hurry. It's on the other side of the mountains over there." Zidane said pointing in the direction of Madain Sari. It wasn't a great lie, but it would have to do. The guards both looked at each other and shrugged, accepting Zidane's lie.

"Well, it's good that ye have her wit' ye," the first guard said. "But yer still a blasphemer."

"No, not anymore." Zidane argued. "After I found Dagger we went to the Sanctuary and had sex." Lani was shocked into attention. Her grip tightened in Zidane's hand to a near death-grip. Zidane winced a little.

The guards looked cautiously at Lani then grabbed each other's shoulders in a huddle. After a minute of talking they turned to the 'happy couple'. "All right," the first guard said. "Ye can pass."

"But only pass through." The second guard said. "Don't buy anything or talk tae anyone. An' ne'er return agin' If'n ye do, we'll kill ye."

"Got it." Zidane said as calmly as he could and walked through the doorway into Conde Petie, dragging along Lani by the hand, who was quivering with rage at Zidane's idiotic plan. _I'm going to kill him for this_ she thought.

**End of Flashback**

Lani picked up her axe from in front of Zidane's feet and walked ahead of Zidane across the plains. Zidane thought it was best to let Lani have her space and trailed behind her. With Conde Petie behind them, the two adventurers continued on their journey towards the Black Mage Village. There Zidane could get the help he needed. Perhaps the Black Mages had a way to contact Garnet at the castle. Perhaps Garnet visited the village in hopes of Zidane showing up one day. It was a stretch, but it wasn't impossible. If nothing else, the Black Mages could help Zidane build a boat to sail to the Mist Continent. As Zidane thought about this, a griffin was soaring overhead. The griffin saw them as an easy meal and dove down to carry one of them off.

Zidane was busy thinking how Garnet would react when he came over the horizon on a mage-built boat. _She would probably come out on the Red Rose to pick me up_ he thought to himself. Suddenly, Zidane heard wings rustling behind him. He tumbled off to the side just in time to avoid being swooped up by the griffin's talons. But Lani was still in its path.

"Lani, get down!"

Lani turned and saw the griffin rushing at her. She reached for her axe, but the griffin had grabbed her by the arm and started to carry her away before she had a chance. With her axe on her back, Lani was too heavy for the griffin to get much altitude. Nevertheless, it was able to get high enough to stay out of Zidane's reach, who had taken out his Ultima Weapon and started to chase the griffin down.

The griffin was twenty feet in the air and was speeding away too fast for Zidane to catch. Lani, with her left arm in the monster's grip tried to reach her axe, but without proper footing it was harder than it looked. She twisted in the wind as she dangled in the griffin's clutches, desperately fighting as best she could. Her fingers caught the tip of the axe's handle, but it slipped from her hand and fell to the ground below.

Zidane dodged by jumping to the side to avoid being split in half by the falling axe. With Lani defenseless and the griffin quickly gaining altitude from the lost weight, Zidane did the only thing he could think of and threw one of his daggers towards Lani.

"Here, use this!" Zidane yelled up at his comrade. Lani turned to see the Zorlin Shape headed straight for her. She held up her right arm to protect her face and tensed up preparing to get hit. Suddenly, the griffin let out a cry of pain. The Zorlin Shape had pierced its chest and was imbedded pretty deep. Lani reached for the dagger and pulled it out, raking it across the griffin's skin towards her as she brought it close. Holding the tip of the blade towards the griffin, Lani struck up as hard as she could into the monster's chest. The griffin howled in pain and started to fall, but it was far too persistent to just let its prey go so easily and held on. Lani continued stabbing the griffin, its blood pouring over her but it was nothing she wasn't used to. It only intensified her energy as she stabbed it harder and deeper.

The griffin, now only ten feet above the ground, began to feel tired and in too much pain. It dropped Lani to the ground, who managed to land squarely on her feet, and tried to escape. However, Zidane hadn't let up his pursuit and used the opportunity to attack the griffin. Zidane raised the Ultima Weapon's pristine blade up and sunk it deeply into the griffin's underbelly, bringing the monster down to the ground with a thunderous crash and one last howl of pain. It slid across the plains before coming to a stop. Zidane carefully approached it to make sure it was dead. After making sure it was safe, Zidane turned around and saw Lani walking up to him with her axe once again strapped to her back. "Some fun, huh?" he said slightly out of breath.

Lani looked into the griffin's dead eyes with a look of pure anger. She turned to Zidane and after a brief pause she said "Thanks." She then took her axe in hand and in one swing chopped the griffin's head clear off.

_I must never get on her bad side again_, Zidane thought as Lani stood cleaning her weapon.

Later, the two had started a fire and began cooking the griffin. They ate in silence as they sat at the opposite sides of the fire. The taste of meat was still a joyous thing worthy of celebration in Zidane's mind. He greedily ate his drumstick, of which there was plenty. Lani took smaller bites, but she tore at the meat even more viciously than Zidane, as if chopping the griffin's head off wasn't revenge enough. After a long period of silence, Lani spoke up.

"So what do you see in that princess anyway?"

Zidane was taken by surprise by the question and choked a little on some of the meat he was chewing. This was the first time he had ever seen Lani ask about anything which didn't involve her gaining something. Zidane smiled at the progress she was making. He set his drumstick to one side. "Well," he began slowly. "For one thing, she has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen…"

**The Next Morning**

After a good night's sleep, Zidane and Lani packed as much of the griffin as they could and set off for the Black Mage Village. The sun harshly beat own on them, so getting into the Black Mage's forest was a huge relief for them. Fortunately, Zidane still remembered the way to the village, which just composed of walking around until all the owls flew away.

It was sundown when they finally reached the village. _It'll be nice to see Mikoto again, _Zidane thought. All of a sudden, Lani covered his mouth from behind him and dragged him off to the side of the pathway.

"Shh." she warned. Standing just outside of the village was a person in a hooded cloak. He was clearly dangerous. As Zidane and Lani looked on they saw a group of Black Mages approach the mysterious stranger and stand in front of him, as if to stop him from entering the village. The hooded figure was talking to the Black Mages, but it was too far for either Zidane or Lani to hear. Whatever the hooded figure was offering it clearly didn't interest the Black Mages as they quickly responded with shaking their heads or angry protests from some. Zidane shifted his against a tree only to step on a twig and have it break with a resounding snap.

The hooded figure turned and immediately had a fireball focused in his hand aiming it right at them. "Whatever you are, come out of there!"

Lani came jumping out with her axe in hand while Zidane ran out a stood in a defensive position next to Lani with his Ultima Weapon in hand. The hooded figure stepped back when he saw them. "Zidane?" he said.

Zidane was really confused now. This forest had that effect on him initially, but this just made it worse. "Who are you?" Zidane demanded.

The hooded figure pulled back his hood.

"Kuja?"

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Krimson- C'mon, say it.

Damien- No. I always end up saying it.

Krimson- C'mon.

Damien- Why don't you say it for a change?

Krimson- Fine, I'll do it. Please review and read.

Damien- What? You suck! It's 'Please Read and Review'.

Krimson- (grins)

Damien- … DAMMIT!


	6. Explainations

Disclaimer- I own nothing! Not a thing! None of the characters are mine at all! They all belong to Square-Enix! All hail the exclamation mark!

Krimson- Alright! This gives the story a total of more than 10,000 words! And it's my longest chapter EVER!

Damien- Why are you so excited?

Krimson- I have very little going on and most of my friends are off in other states.

Damien- Geez you're a freak.

Krimson- You know what you need? Tea! I'll get you some.

Damien- I don't want tea!

Krimson- This is chapter 6: Explanations.

Damien- NO TEA!

----------------

"Kuja? What are you doing here?" Zidane asked.

Kuja's silver cloak blew behind him as he posed in his "cool guy" look, which was really helped by the dying light from the sunset over the mountains. He looked at Zidane with a piercing intensity. "I'm here to help."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Black Mages, Zidane. Don't you remember that they have a shorter life expectancy than Gaians?"

"You mean there's really a way to fix that? I thought you made that up."

"He is!" said one of the Black Mages. "We wont let him use us anymore!"

"I'm not trying to use any of you!" Kuja protested.

"Liar!" screamed another Black Mage.

"Wait, he might have a way!" Zidane said.

"I do!" Kuja said.

"Prove it!" said the first Black Mage.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Lani yelled.

Everyone turned to look at Lani, who was standing outside of the small group that had formed between Zidane, Kuja, and the Black Mages.

Lani looked around in utter confusion from Kuja to the Black Mages and back to Zidane. "Who's he?" she asked pointing to Kuja. "What are they?" she asked pointing to the Black Mages. "And what the hell are you talking about?" she asked turning to Zidane.

They all looked at each other for a moment before Zidane spoke up. "Okay, this is Kuja," Zidane said, indicating Kuja. "He's my brother, who created these guys, the Black Mages." Zidane continued to explain while pointing at the Black Mages.

"After Kuja manipulated Queen Brahne into starting a war using the Black Mages and the eidolons as her secret weapon, some of the Black Mages woke up and they ran from the fighting and made this village in these woods."

"What do you mean they woke up?" Lani asked. She was confused before. Now she was getting a migraine.

"They came to realize their existence, like when young children come to understand what they are as people." Kuja explained.

"Right," Zidane continued. "Well, after they came here they started to realize that they could die from old age and that their "old age" was actually pretty young. So when Kuja, who was trying to conquer Gaia at the time, came to them and offered them the chance to live longer they took his offer and helped him move his plans for power along."

"Then he betrayed us!" one of the Black Mages yelled.

"Stop!" Lani said. "Just stop. This isn't helping."

Zidane thought back on what he was saying and realized that it was pretty elaborate. Anyone who hadn't been through it themselves would need a while to take everything in. "The simple version is that Kuja's my brother and the Black Mages are the magic users who live in this village."

"Whatever."

Changing the subject to something more relevant, Zidane turned to Kuja. "You still haven't explained why you're here Kuja."

Kuja brushed a lock of hair from his face and let out a sigh. "Do you remember the mist at the bottom of the Iifa Tree?"

"Yeah." Zidane said.

"That mist is lighter than the mist I used to create the Black Mages. It's because the souls of Terra aren't flowing through the mist anymore."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that there is a way to allow the Black Mages to live longer."

"He's a liar!" accused a Black Mage. "He'll just try to control us again!"

"No I won't!" Kuja protested.

"Hold on!" Zidane said getting between Kuja and the mob of Black Mages. Zidane turned to his brother. "Kuja, you have to understand, the Black Mages have no reason to trust you."

"That's why I'm doing this." Kuja explained. "This is for redemption."

Given Kuja's recent attitude change, Zidane thought it was best to at least hear him out. "Alright, how will this work?"

Kuja knelt down and neatly drew an outline of a Black Mage. "The mist outside of the Iifa Tree now has properties of water." he explained. "That means that it can be frozen. If it's ingested by a Black Mage in this state, it will regenerate parts of the Black Mages' bodies." He demonstrated this by illustrating the flow of energy in his Black Mage diagram.

"Kind of like a potion, right?" Zidane asked.

"It's very similar, yes." Addressing the Black Mages, Kuja said, "It won't keep you alive forever, but it will expand your life spans considerably. "

"We still can't trust you!" yelled another Black Mage, followed by shouts of "Get out of here!" and "Leave us alone!" Nearly every Black Mage in the village had gathered, each one protesting Kuja's presence. Even a few of the Genomes had gathered to see what the fuss was all about.

"Stop!" came a cry from the group of Black Mages. They all turned and stepped out of the way as Mr. 288 walked to the front of the crowd, using his wand as more of a walking stick. During the time Zidane was trapped in the Iifa Tree, Mr. 288 had taken the role as the official leader of the Black Mage Village. He had worked with Mikoto to create suitable housing for the Genomes and had expanded the village's industry, specializing in farming and herding some of the local wildlife, which allowed them to live comfortable, secluded lives. Mr. 288 emerged from the crowd and stopped in front of Kuja. Mr. 288 was a wise person, everyone already knew that, but the way he walked made it obvious that he was aging.

Mr. 288 stared at Kuja patiently, carefully assessing him.

"Kuja," he began. "You have betrayed us, manipulated us, and in the end, you threw us away. We have no reason to trust you at all." Mr. 288 stamped his wand in the ground at his last point to emphasize its relevance.

"However," Mr. 288 continued with a sigh, "We do not have much of a choice, so we shall do an experiment."

The other Black Mages were shocked by Mr. 288 sympathizing with Kuja and many gasped with surprise.

"We shall go with you to the Iifa Tree and a volunteer will take the pill you described." He stood up straight. "I volunteer myself."

The Black Mages protested Mr. 288's decision with cries of fear. Mr. 288 had been a respected and beloved leader to them, almost like a father. The thought of him dying by Kuja's manipulation was far from comfortable for them. Mr. 288 raised his hand to silence the crowd. "Let's face it, I don't have much time left. If there should be anyone to take this sort of a risk, it should be me."

Mr. 288 raised his hand again to silence the roars of protest coming from the crowd. "If Kuja's plan works, we shall all be able to live longer healthier lives. If it is indeed a trick and something happens to me, I'll leave it to all of you to finish me off."

"Don't worry." Kuja said. "That's not going to happen."

"You're damn right it's not going to happen." said one of the Black Mages. "Because we're not going with you." It was followed by monstrous applause.

"Stop everyone!" Mr. 288 called out. But the sudden exertion was too much for him and he collapsed to his knees, coughing.

The Black Mages ran up to Mr. 288, helping him to his feet. As they lead him away back to the huts several Black Mages turned to face Kuja. They stared at him with murderous intent and Kuja stared back, understanding what they were feeling.

"Fine," one of the Black Mages said. "We'll go with you, but we'll leave tomorrow morning, after Mr. 288 has had some time to rest."

"Very well." Kuja replied.

"And you're not allowed in the village."

"What?" Zidane said at last. "He's willing to help you all and you ban him from any kind treatment in return?"

"Zidane, it's alright." Kuja replied. "I deserve it.

With that, the rest of the Black Mages went back into the village. A few stayed near the entrance to guard it.

Zidane looked around and took in everything about the forest nearby. He thought to himself and nodded. "I'll go with you."

"Zidane, I can't ask you to do that."

"Tough. You could use the company."

"You could use more control."

Then, a voice came from the direction of the village. "You could both use an adult."

Kuja and Zidane looked over and saw Mikoto, in a pink shirt and white shorts outfit approaching them from the village. She had her same solemn expression as always.

"Mikoto!" Zidane said and ran to her, picking her up in a hug. Kuja stayed back and watched the happy reunion. After Zidane put Mikoto back down she looked at her other brother.

"Hello Kuja."

"Mikoto." Kuja said with a nod.

"Well isn't this a cheerful scene?"

The three siblings looked behind them to see Lani leaning forward on her axe.

"Oh, sorry Lani." Zidane said. "I guess I forgot about you."

Lani grunted in response and turned her attention to Mikoto.

"Oh, right." Zidane presented Mikoto by putting his hand on her shoulder. "This is my sister Mikoto. Everyone, this is Lani" Mikoto nodded and Kuja waved slightly.

"Do you have any other brothers or sisters by any chance?" Lani asked sarcastically.

"Nope. Just these two."

"Hmm." Lani stepped back off of her axe and hoisted it onto her shoulder. "I'll let you three get reacquainted. I'm going to go set up a camp out here a ways."

"You won't be sleeping in the village?" Mikoto asked.

"I'm uncomfortable in situations like this."

"Keep the campfire going." Zidane said. "We'll be over in a few minutes."

"Whatever." Lani walked a few feet down the path, but stopped, turned and took her axe off her shoulder and pointed it at Zidane's head. "Zidane," she said, "Don't take this opportunity to run. You still owe me that favor."

Lani latched her axe on her back and headed off down the path and as she walked a owl flew overhead and landed on a branch over the path. _Weird_, Zidane thought.

"Where have you two been these past months?" Mikoto asked, drawing the attention away from Lani's exit.

Zidane and Kuja glanced at each other. "We were stuck in a tree." they said at the same time. They both managed to get Mikoto to smile a tiny bit.

"How are the Genomes doing here?" Zidane asked.

"They've adapted rather well and make good laborers for some of the farming." Mikoto responded.

"Really? That's great!"

"I'll assume they still have no souls." Kuja said.

"They don't, but they're starting to develop in certain ways." Mikoto answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Some of them have started to have likes and dislikes."

"Like what?" Zidane asked.

"They enjoy cold drinking water and sunny days and dislike pain."

Zidane stood for a moment. "What's so developed about that?"

"You may not realize it Zidane, but for someone without a soul to even have ideas and opinions is quite remarkable." Kuja explained.

"Oh."

Then, Kuja's stomach rumbled. He placed his hand over it to quiet it, but it was still pretty obvious. "I guess I haven't eaten in awhile." he said.

"Why don't you both come back to the campsite with me?" Zidane said. "Lani and I still have a lot of griffin meat left."

"You have griffin?" Kuja asked, perplexed. "Where did you get it? What kind of glaze does it have?"

Back when Kuja was living in his Desert Palace he would frequently eat the finest foods around. Since he hadn't eaten any meat or delicacies for the past few months, the thought of eating something as fine as griffin made him so excited he lost his composure. Zidane was sent back a step as a result.

"Lani and I killed one the other day and packed up what we didn't eat."

"Oh." Kuja paused to collect himself and regain his composure. "Well I suppose it will do."

"Meat alone isn't enough." Mikoto said. "I'll go back to the village and bring back some fruit." She turned the other way and headed back to her hut to retrieve some of the fruits she had helped harvest earlier that day. Kuja and Zidane were left alone at the entrance of the village.

"Kuja?"

"Yes?"

"If the mist at the Iifa Tree can be turned into pills and can save the Black Mages, why didn't you bring some to show the Black Mages that they work?"

"Because I can't make them."

"What?"

Kuja sighed and crossed his arms at his chest. "The pills can only be created if three blizzard spells are condensed on a certain spot in the mist at the same time. I can't use three blizzard spells at once. Or at all."

"That explains a bit."

As they finished their conversation, Mikoto came running towards them carrying a basket which held apples and a head of lettuce. She also had a small chopping board under her arm.

"I hope this is enough." she said. "I didn't know how much you two would want."

"Mikoto, don't you need a knife to chop up the lettuce?" Zidane asked.

"I have one." She said and reached down to her boot and pulled a small dagger from its side. It was similar in shape to Zidane's first dagger but it was just a little smaller. "I got it down at the weapons shop."

"Mikoto, something like that is more suited for fighting monsters than cutting up vegetables."

"I know." Mikoto sheathed the dagger back in her boot. "But I never fight monsters, so I don't have any other use for it."

Kuja's stomach rumbled again. "If you two are done with the small talk, I suggest we head off and get something to eat."

With that, they left the fringe of the village. Fortunately, Lani hadn't set up camp too far off. As the night bore on they traded stories and discussed plans for the future. The meat was cooked about right and Mikoto's apples and lettuce were crisp and juicy. They all joked far into the night. Even Lani had a good time.

Meanwhile, in the Black Mage Village, Mr. 288 was in the infirmary hut being treated by some of the other Black Mages. They had given him some potions, but those didn't do too much. He was dying. He knew it. The other Black Mages knew it. Mr. 288 didn't even have a week left.

----------------

Damien- I mean it this time. I'm not saying it!

Krimson- (Leaves)

Damien- Hey, where are you going?

Krimson- (Returns with sandwich)

Damien- What are you doing?

Krimson- (Starts eating sandwich really, really slowly)

Damien- (Pause) Stop it!

Krimson- (Continues eating sandwich)

Damien- Alright already! Please Read and Review.

Krimson- (Offering sandwich) What some?

Damien- NO!


	7. The Exodus

Disclaimer- I don't own anything in this story except for the persona of Mr. 386. Everything else belongs to Square-Enix. Yay Square-Enix!

Author's note: To all my readers and fans, I'm back! After months of schoolwork, broken computers, bad internet connections, relationship issues, and more computer problems, I'm finally uploading not one, but two chapters for everyone awesome enough to read my story. I'll try my best to finish the story before Christmas. I promise.

Krimson- Well, I've just ingested 30 pounds of pure sugar and will now attempt to see how strangely I can write a chapter.

Damien- Doesn't that seem like a bad idea?

Krimson- Why? What could go wrong?

Damien- Your hand.

Krimson- What? (Hand is green) Cool!

Damien- Moron.

Krimson- Ooh, nice shade too.

Damien- This is Chapter 7: The Exodus.

Krimson- The green turns pink when you press on it!

Damien- I'm going to go hide every sharp object nearby before you kill yourself.

----------------

It was bright and sunny the next morning. Mikoto had stayed most of the night and ended up taking Zidane's tent next to Lani's. Zidane and Kuja had to make due with sleeping outside without any pillows or blankets, but with what they put up with in the Iifa Tree, it really wasn't all that bad to them.

Mikoto was the first to wake up. She emerged from her tent and squinted in the morning sunlight. After a quick stretch, she looked around for her brothers. The woods became denser the farther away she walked from the campsite so they couldn't be far. Mikoto thought about waking Lani up to help her search, but by the way Lani had acted through most of the night, it seemed like a better idea to let her sleep.

Lani had secluded herself for most of the night. She sat with the others, but didn't add to the stories being passed around and didn't talk much at all. Mikoto could tell that Lani didn't really mean to be obnoxious, but rather that it was more of a defense mechanism since she didn't get along with others very well.

Kuja was leaned up against a tree not far from the campsite. His hands were folded neatly in his lap. Zidane was just a few feet away from Kuja, sleeping facedown in a pile of leaves.

"Wake up you two." Mikoto said.

Kuja stirred and opened his eyes. He gave a small yawn and stretched his hands out in front of him. Zidane just slept through the wake up call.

"Zidane!" Mikoto said in a slightly harsher tone. Zidane still slept.

"That's not going to work." Kuja said standing up. "When he's really tired he'll sleep through almost anything."

"How do you know?"

"Well I was stuck with him in a tree for five months. Try kicking him in the ribs."

"Isn't that a little drastic?"

"Drastic would be using Flare on him."

Mikoto stared at Zidane. They were only up a little past midnight. Seven hours of sleep should have been enough. Mikoto gave him a little nudge in the side but Zidane gave no reaction. She kicked him a little harder. Zidane groaned, but still stayed asleep. Mikoto looked at Kuja, who shrugged not knowing how to explain it. Mikoto, not wanting to hurt Zidane too much, turned him onto his back and with a small leap, jumped on his stomach.

Zidane's eyes almost flew out of his head. Mikoto stepped off of him and Zidane curled up into a ball trying his hardest to breathe again.

"Sorry." Mikoto said.

Zidane could only softly hit the ground next to her as he struggled to draw breath.

"Hey, this is nothing like when I tried to wake you up." Kuja said.

Mikoto's eyes darted to him. "What did you do?" she asked.

"You don't want to know."

After Zidane had a few minutes to recover, all three of them went back to the campsite where Lani was already packing up the tents. After one look at Zidane, she asked "What the hell happened to you?"

"She jumped on me." Zidane said pointing at Mikoto. Lani gave a slight grimace out of sympathy for Zidane.

"Well, we're packed up here." Lani said. "Are we leaving or what?"

"Sure, let's go." They all grabbed their packs and set off for the Black Mage Village.

It took them a few minutes to get there, given the nature of the forest, but when they arrived they saw most of the Black Mages waiting for them. One of the Black Mages, Mr. 386, stepped out to meet them.

"Hello Mikoto." he said.

"Mr. 386." she responded.

"How long should this take?" Mr. 386 asked. "We don't have much time."

"We'll cross the plains, go through Conde Petie, and walk through the mountain path, so we should be there in two or three days."

As Zidane heard this, he realized his predicament. The Dwarves threatened to kill him if they ever saw him again.

"Uh, could I get a coat and a hat?" Zidane asked Mr. 386.

"Why do you need one all of a sudden?" Kuja asked.

"Oh, uh, I just think things will be easier if I have a set."

"Why?"

"No reason."

"The Dwarves threatened to kill him if they ever saw him again." Lani said.

"Lani!"

"What did you do?" Mikoto asked.

"Nothing!" Zidane claimed.

"Something about him not sleeping with his princess." Lani said again.

"Dammit Lani!"

Mikoto raised an eyebrow and Kuja smirked. The Black Mages just stood, not in the mood for such jokes.

"Can we leave now?" one of the Black Mages asked. "We don't have much time."

"Wait." Mikoto said. She ran back into the village and disappeared around a corner. After a minute she came back with a Black Mage's hat and coat, which she handed to Zidane. "Just don't do anything to stand out." she said.

"Let's go already!" one of the Black Mages said impatiently.

**The Next Day**

"C'mon, tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

"You're better off not knowing."

Mikoto and Kuja were walking in the middle of the group headed for Conde Petie. She was eaten up with curiosity for how Kuja used to wake up Zidane inside the Iifa Tree. What could be so much worse than waking up with someone jumping on your stomach?

"Fine." Mikoto said. "If you won't tell me, I'll just ask Zidane."

"I wouldn't do that." Kuja warned. "It might traumatize him."

"You're exaggerating things."

"Fine. But when he collapses I'm not helping you carry him."

Mikoto eyed him suspiciously. She ran up to the front of the group to Zidane.

Zidane was talking with some of the Black Mages about some of his exploits. They were also interested in Vivi's adventures. Apparently, Vivi earned a lot of respect from the other Black Mages by defeating Kuja and saving Gaia.

"Zidane," Mikoto said as she approached him. "Could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." he said. "What's up?"

"Not here." Mikoto grabbed Zidane's arm and pulled him out of the group until they were walking twenty feet off to the side of the Black Mages. Kuja looked on in concern from the center of the group.

"I have to know something." Mikoto said.

"Okay, what?"

"What did Kuja do to wake you up when you were both in the Iifa Tree?"

Zidane stopped in place. His face, a moment ago cheery and proud, was now frozen in horror.

"Zidane?"

Zidane's hands started to claw at his face as he sunk lower to the ground. He started mumbling to himself, but it was to fast and too quiet for Mikoto to hear.

"Zidane?"

Zidane crumbled to the ground and curled himself into a ball. He started softly sobbing to himself.

"Uh…" Mikoto didn't know how to handle a situation like this. None of the other Genomes had ever acted like this on Terra, so she wasn't sure what to do. "It…it's okay Zidane."

"I told you not to ask him."

Mikoto looked up and saw Kuja approaching. He was clearly angry at Mikoto, but there was a hint of compassion for Zidane.

"Help me carry him." Kuja said.

Kuja grabbed Zidane's right arm and Mikoto grabbed his left. They dragged him back to the group as the Black Mages waited impatiently for them to return.

"Please hurry." one of the Black Mages asked. "We do not have much time."

"They're awfully single-minded, aren't they?" Kuja asked.

It took Zidane half an hour to recover from his trauma. When he did, he quickly apologized for slowing everything down and readjusted his hat. Kuja pointed out that it was the same way Vivi adjusted his hat. Zidane just took it in stride.

It took another hour before they got to Conde Petie. The guards were confused by how many Black Mages there were, but after Mr. 386 explained what was going on they were allowed to pass through. One by one the Black Mages stood in front of the guards and said "Rally-ho!". Zidane stood in line worried about what would happen if he was caught. They might tie him up and throw him to the bottom of the canyon the city overlooked.

As Zidane thought about what might happen the line kept moving. Before he was even aware of it, it was his turn.

"Wot's the password?" the guard asked.

Ever since Zidane got chased away from Conde Petie the first time, the Dwarves here had scared him a little. Being back here wasn't easy.

"Rh-Rhallie-whoo." Zidane replied nervously.

The guard eyed him suspiciously. Zidane tried to hide as much of his face with his hat as he could. The guard's face came closer and closer to inspect who Zidane really was. He did stand out from all the other Black Mages. Kuja, Mikoto and Lani, who had already passed through, anxiously looked on to see what would happen.

"Aha!" the guard proclaimed. "I knew it!"

_This is it._ Zidane thought. _I'm dead._

"Ev'ryone!" the guard called to the other guards. "It's him!"

_Goodbye Dagger_.

"It's the little peinty-hated guy who married the fat giant-tongue thing!"

"Wha…?" Zidane said. Then he realized that they thought he was Vivi. What an odd thing to happen.

"Wot was it like being with soomone like that?" one of the guards asked.

"I doon't think ah could manage to marry soomone like that. Ye've got a pair on ye." another guard said.

Zidane was confused. Was he being complimented or mocked?"

"Uh, I've got to go." he said as he moved to the others. The guards all gave disappointed groans.

"Excuse me," said the next Black Mage in line. "We don't have much time. Could we just get through?"

"Right-o" said the first guard after a sigh. The Black Mages started walking through again.

Zidane approach Lani and his siblings to endure their reactions from his recent encounter. Lani was clutching her sides trying to hold back her laughter, Kuja was smirking, and Mikoto was showing a slight smile while raising an eyebrow.

"Whoever sees Vivi next," Zidane began, "make sure he doesn't spend much time here, alright?"

The others all nodded.

A few minutes later, the whole group made it through the city and they were once again headed off to the Iifa Tree.

----------------

Damien- That… was the weirdest thing you've ever written.

Krimson- Yeah.

Damien- Are you sure that was just the sugar? Are you sure you didn't take anything else?

Krimson- Dude, I don't even remember.

Damien- Wait, we have to stop talking like this.

Krimson- Why?

Damien- Someone might think you're high on something.

Krimson- Uh… (Proceeds to juggle chainsaws)

Damien- THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?

Krimson- Proving I'm not high.

Damien- You're an idiot!

Krimson- Hey, could you say it this time Damien? I need to concentrate on this.

Damien- Oh for- Please read and review.

Krimson- (Still juggling chainsaws) This is kinda fun.

Damien- Hold on, I'm gonna get something to throw at you.


	8. Now We're Screwed

Krimson- I've got World of Warcraft!

Damien- I'm sorry about him.

Krimson- Whoo! Warcraft!

Damien- He's been like this for a while now.

Krimson- My life has meaning!

Damien- I think he'll be out of it for a while longer.

Krimson- (Running around in circles) Yahoo!

Damien- This is Chapter 8: Now We're Screwed.

----------------

"Great, now I'm all sweaty." Zidane complained. The Black Mage jacket he had to wear was really heavy in the desert heat of the canyon beyond Conde Petie. Zidane was impressed with the Black Mages' determination. The heat didn't slow them down in the least.

It wasn't until they were at the crossroads where he had defeated Hilgigars that Zidane felt that he was far enough away from Conde Petie to take it off. He really didn't want to piss off the guards anymore than he already had.

"Are we nearly there?" one of the Black Mages asked Mikoto as they all marched.

"This is the path that leads us there." Mikoto answered simply. "We'll be there in a few hours."

"We don't have that much time." another Black Mage said. "We must hurry."

"Thirty-two." Kuja whispered to himself.

"What?" Zidane asked, now twirling his hat on his finger.

"That's the thirty-second time one of them has said that there's not much time left. I'm just tired of hearing it."

"They're just worried about each other."

"That may be true, but I'm still tired of hearing it."

"Well, it'll be over in a few hours, so you won't need to deal with it for much longer."

"True."

"But we have to hurry. There isn't much time left."

"Dammit Zidane!"

**Hours later**

The mist had spread throughout the area, making it look more like a misty harbor than an arid plain.

Kuja approached the edge of mist and held out his cupped hand, measuring the mist's purity. After a minute, he put his hand down and knelt to the soil beneath him and started to draw a symbol in the loose soil.

The Black Mages had clumped together away from the mist, but were close enough to see what Kuja was doing. Zidane was in front of the Black Mage group with Lani and Mikoto, half watching Kuja, half watching for any threats.

When Kuja was done drawing the symbol, he stood up. "This is a rejuvenation circle." he explained. "These patterns channel the energy needed for the spell to work properly."

The rejuvenation circle was mainly a circle with a creative collection of shapes with some writing which Zidane recognized as Terran. It was five feet in diameter and had taken Kuja just as many minutes to complete. It looked very similar to the transportation symbols at the Desert Palace.

"I'll need three volunteers for the next step." Kuja said. The Black Mages looked at each other nervously, untrusting of Kuja, but worried about Mr. 288's ever declining health. Finally, three Black Mages stepped out of the crowd and walked up to Kuja, who proceeded to assign each of them their own place to stand outside the circle. When he was done, each one of them was standing an equal distance away from each other.

"Now for the magic." Kuja said, enjoying his would-be stage time. "You three must cast Blizzard on the same spot at the same time."

The three Black Mages in the circle nodded to each other and began to concentrate on their spells. The Black Mages still in the crowd looked on, ready for whatever was going to happen. If Kuja was going to betray them, this would be the time and they would not be caught off guard.

As the three at the circle began to cast Blizzard, the symbol started to glow a light green. A cold air passed over it and condensed into a ball of ice as the three Blizzard spells were cast at the same time. At the same time the light from the symbol erupted in a vertical beam and overtook the ball of ice. The Black Mages all gasped in fear and surprise.

When the beam dissipated, Kuja approached the symbol and picked up a small cylindrical capsule waiting at its center. "This," he said, "Is the end result." He turned to the crowd. "I believe we already had a volunteer."

Mr. 288 stepped out from the crowd, assisted by two other Black Mages until he came to a stop while resting on his cane. He stretched out his hand. Kuja handed him the capsule. Mr. 288 took a deep breath and swallowed the pill.

The other Black Mages looked on in concern, unsure of what was going to happen

Mr. 288 took another deep breath, waiting. He didn't feel any different. By now, everyone's total concentration was placed on the experiment, awaiting the result.

Suddenly, Mr. 288 started to convulse. He grabbed his chest in pain and fell to his knees coughing. It was just like the Black Mages had feared.

"Kuja! You tricked us!" they cried.

"Traitor!"

"You won't get any more of us!"

The Black Mages all started to prepare their own spells. Kuja looked on in anger.

"Kuja," Zidane said, "What's going on?"

"Stop you fools!" Kuja yelled over the roars of the crowd. "He's replacing a lot of dying tissue rapidly. Did you honestly think it wouldn't hurt at all?"

The Black Mages didn't listen. They continued their cries of protest and let their spells loose at Kuja. He dodged as many as he could, but given the number of spells there were, escape was impossible. Kuja was hit in the chest with a Fira spell and was knocked to the ground. The barrage of spells didn't let up in the slightest. Kuja was getting hit so rapidly he couldn't even get up.

"KUJA!" Zidane ran to his brother's defense, but fell to the ground when he was tackled by Lani. She held onto his legs as tightly as she could.

"Don't be an idiot!" she yelled over the noise of the spells. "If you go out there you'll die too!"

"We can't just let him die!" Zidane was crawling with his hands to Kuja as best he could. "Mikoto make them stop! They're gonna kill him!"

Mikoto calmly walked over to Zidane's side and held his hands down with all of her weight.

"What are you doing?" Zidane yelled.

"I'm sorry Zidane," Mikoto answered softly, "but Lani's right. If you try to stop them, you'll die." It was hard for Zidane to hear her over all of the noise.

Kuja just laid there, motionless as the spells continued to slowly kill him.

"Stop it!" Zidane yelled in vain.

Kuja's blood was gathering in several pools around him.

"Stop it!"

Kuja wasn't even writhing. His wounds were deep and wide. Even if they did stop, blood loss alone would be enough to kill him.

"STOP IT!"

The Black Mages continued their assault.

"STOP!"

This time, the Black Mages held back, stopping whatever spell they had each started to cast.

Mr. 288 stood up with ease and comfort.

"It works." he said.

The Black Mages crowded around their leader in jubilation. They shouted cheers of joy and relief at Mr. 288's recovery.

While the Black Mages were celebrating, Lani and Mikoto let Zidane up, who ran and knelt by Kuja's side. Kuja no longer had any skin on his back. Most of his hair was matted down from all the blood or burned away. Zidane knew that if he moved him, Kuja would probably die of shock.

"Move." Mikoto demanded. Zidane stepped back as Mikoto pulled out an elixir from her pocket. She carefully tilted Kuja's head to the side. She poured as much of the elixir into his mouth as she could. Kuja coughed some of it out, but managed to drink most of it. Within seconds the skin on his back was restored and all his other injuries were gone as well. However, his hair was still burned and matted with blood.

"I told you it would work." Kuja said weakly.

"Lay back and rest." Mikoto ordered.

As they sat, relieved about Kuja's recovery, Mr. 288 approached Kuja, followed by the rest of the Black Mages.

"Thank you for your assistance Kuja." Mr. 288 said.

"Mmm hmm." Kuja replied.

"Although it would have been nice to know that it was going to hurt so much."

"My apologies."

Kuja, who had had enough of lying in the dirt surrounded by mist, tried to get up, but was sent to his knees by a jolt of pain ripping through his side. He gripped his side trying to subside the pain. Zidane took his other arm and, putting it around his shoulder, helped Kuja to his feet.

"So, if we use that same process on the same symbol, we can make as many of those pills as we need, right?" Mr. 288 asked.

"Correct." Kuja answered. "If you give me a minute I can make more to speed up production time."

"We would appreciate it." Kuja and Zidane couldn't see it, but it was obvious that Mr. 288 was smiling.

Mr. 386 stepped out from the crowd. "Kuja," he said. "The others and I would like to apologize for our actions." Mr. 386 was staring down at his feet with guilt. "We jumped to conclusions too quickly and overreacted. We're very sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Kuja said. "In a way I deserved it."

The other Black Mages all seemed to have guilty looks on their faces as well. As Kuja was hanging off of Zidane's shoulder he kept looking around. His gaze finally fell on the symbol he had drawn and his eyes went wide with terror.

"EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" he yelled.

Everyone turned to look at Kuja.

"What's wrong?" Zidane asked.

Kuja pushed Zidane away and, still gripping his side, walked up to the rejuvenation circle and, with his feet, tried to erase it.

"What are you doing?" Mr. 386 asked.

"There's blood on the rejuvenation circle." he answered. "It's been tainted."

Sure enough, some of Kuja's blood had fallen far enough away to reach the rejuvenation circle. It had collected in a small pool no bigger than a small coin, but that was more than needed for Kuja to be this concerned.

"What happens if there's blood on it?" Zidane asked.

An ear-piercing shriek was let out from the direction of the Iifa Tree. A hazy silhouette was seen coming towards them through the mist. As it became clearer, they saw that the shriek came from a dragon. Not a normal one either. This one looked like a Dracozombie, but its skin was in much worse condition. Many of its tendons were drooping far lower than what should have been possible. In many ways it looked like it was made of pinkish spaghetti on a loose skeletal frame. When it landed, they saw that it was also about five times the size of a normal Dracozombie. It let out another roar at its new prey.

"That." Kuja said.

----------------

Krimson- Warcraft!

Damien- Yeah, he's still doing this.

Krimson- Yes!

Damien- I'd stop him, but I worry about getting mauled.

Krimson- HAHA!

Damien- (grumbles) Please Read and Review.

Krimson- (starts juggling chainsaws out of sheer joy)

Damien- Stop that! You're gonna hurt-

Krimson- (Drops chainsaws)

Damien- Oh…dear…god.


	9. A Fight with a God

Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy or the characters in this story. And now for something random: CHEESE PANTS!

Damien- Well, after that chainsaw fiasco last week, Krimson had to be shipped off to the hospital for severe lacerations, and as I suspect, decreased mental ability. So it's just me here, alone with nothing but peace and quiet.

Krimson- Hiya!

Damien- (pause) What the hell are you doing here?

Krimson- I'm here to introduce the story.

Damien- You nearly killed yourself!

Krimson- Meh.

Damien- What do you mean 'meh'? Three _active_ chainsaws came down on you when you tripped while juggling them.

Krimson- Meh.

Damien- You lost five gallons of blood! The human body doesn't even hold that much.

Krimson- Meh.

Damien- Your right arm was cut clean off!

Krimson- This is Chapter 9: A Fight with a God.

Damien- MAKE SENSE DAMN YOU!

----------------

The psychotically large dragon was standing in front of them assessing its next meal. Its breath had a red tint whenever it exhaled.

Zidane, Kuja and Lani placed themselves between the others and the dragon.

"What is this thing?" Zidane asked, unsheathing the Ultima Weapon.

"Giganos, the largest dragon in existence." Kuja prepared his magic.

"Is it some sort of zombie?" Lani asked, taking out her axe.

"He's from the same plane of existence as Necron was." Kuja explained. "He's not a zombie per say, but he has similar powers and abilities."

"So how do we kill it?" Zidane asked.

"You two hack at his legs. I'll aim for the head."

They both nodded in agreement. Kuja charged up a Flare attack while Zidane and Lani ran parallel to each other headed to Giganos' front legs. Kuja launched his attack and it hit the dragon right between the eyes. Zidane and Lani took the opportunity to attack while he was distracted. They gave their strongest battle cries and jumped at Giganos' front left leg, ready to slash away as needed and give Kuja enough time to use another attack.

"FOOLS." Zidane and Lani were thrown back as Giganos swiped at them with his powerful legs, sending them flying back towards the huddled Black Mages.

"He can talk?" Zidane said, after he picked himself back up.

"Of coarse he can." Kuja said. After everything they've seen, this shouldn't surprise Zidane at all.

Mikoto turned to face the Black Mages. "Everyone! They need help! It's a zombie, so if you use your strongest fire attacks we can hurt it!"

"No!" Kuja protested. "If you attack, he'll just retaliate! You won't last a second against him."

A furious battle cry let out as Lani ran with her axe low and at her side. She headed for the same leg again but she kept her center of balance low. As Giganos' leg came out to swipe her away, she jumped over it and made contact with her target. Her axe dug deep into the dragon's front left leg. Blood started to seep out from the wound. Lani brought her axe back for another strike when Giganos brushed her aside as if she was no more than a fly.

As Lani was sent tumbling back towards Kuja, Zidane ran at Giganos' leg where it was bleeding, intent on making the wound bigger. He ran with the Ultima Weapon at his side ready to jump like Lani was. As he approached, Giganos simply lifted his left leg putting it out of Zidane's reach. Zidane skidded to a stop and Giganos brought his leg back down on him. Zidane rolled out of the way at the last second and corrected himself by jumping onto the dragon's leg and he sunk the Ultima Weapon into the pre-existing wound. It went in with enough force that it sliced past the loose fitting muscles and went into the bone. Giganos roared in pain as Zidane swung his weapon around from its fixed position, cutting away at the extra muscle. Giganos brought his left up to his mouth and inhaled. Zidane, using his intuition, pulled his weapon out ad jumped off the leg, narrowly avoiding the red breath that Giganos blew upon his leg where Zidane had just been.

Zidane ran to a safer point away from the dragon. He gave a thumbs up behind him to Kuja, who was helping Lani to her feet. They smiled back, knowing that they could win.

But Zidane saw their faces turn from looks of joy to ones of fear as Giganos stopped blowing on his leg. The gaping wound that had once been there was now healed and the leg was back to its original dark pink. Giganos laughed at the heroes as his leg slammed into the ground.

"FOOLISH MORTALS!" his voice boomed. "I COME FROM THE UNDERWORLD. YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO WIN. EVEN IF THE ANGELS OF TERRA ARE FIGHTING ME YOU STILL HAVE NO CHANCE!"

Zidane stood in a defensive stance with the Ultima Weapon in front of him as he asked "How do you know about the Angels of Terra?"

"I HAVE SEEN YOUR EXPLIOTS. I HAVE SEEN YOUR BATTLES. I KNOW FAR MORE THAN YOU REALIZE ZIDANE. I AM A GOD!"

"How do you-" Zidane was cut off.

"I DO NOT NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO THE LIKES OF YOU!" came the response, followed closely by a trail of red smoke as Giganos blew the corrupting vapor from his mouth. Zidane narrowly avoided it and had been forced to retreat back to where Kuja and Lani were standing.

"This is hopeless." Lani said. "He can just heal himself whenever we attack and his defenses are too strong for an all out assault. How do we kill him?"

While the others stood, stunned at the sudden turn of events, Kuja acted quickly and gathered his energy into his palms. He ran clockwise around the beast from the Underworld as more and more energy flowed into his hands. As his spell reached completion, it glowed a soft blue in Kuja's hands. When he was far enough behind Giganos' head he let the energy flow out of his hands and into the back of Giganos' neck.

"HOLY!"

The chains of holy light surrounded the mighty dragon and pierced the sinewy tissue of his "skin". Giganos roared in pain. The aftermath left him with a missing chunk of muscle from the back of his head. "DAMN YOU!"

"Why don't heal it with that magic breath of yours?" Kuja asked smugly.

"I WILL SEND YOU TO THE DARKEST REACHES OF HELL!" Giganos cried as he charged at Kuja with more speed than should have been possible. Kuja stood his ground as the gaping maw raced towards him. Kuja raised his hand over his head as Giganos came close enough. The giant dragon bit down on Kuja, scooping plenty of dirt along with him.

"No." Zidane whispered from far away. Despite the distance, he and the others had seen everything. Kuja had been eaten whole by the monster in front of them. Zidane clenched his eyes shut to fight back his tears. "KUJA!" he yelled.

"Yes?"

Zidane turned around and saw Kuja standing next to Mikoto, who looked unsurprised as ever.

"How-" Zidane started.

"Teleported." came the answer.

"What?" Lani asked.

"I teleported myself at the last second."

"Like after our fight with Necron." Zidane realized.

"Exactly. All he got was a mouth full of dirt." Kuja said pointing over at Giganos, who was just beginning to realize what had happened. He spat out the dirt he had in his mouth and growled in hatred and embarrassment.

"So, does everyone know what to do now?" Kuja asked everyone. He just got blank stares back. Kuja rolled his eyes. "He can't heal the areas that his breath can't reach, so if we attack his back we can kill him."

"The problem is getting on his back." Zidane said.

"Well, I can use long range magic, Zidane can use acrobatics to climb up his leg, and I assume Miss Lani is strong enough to climb up his leg on her own." Kuja showed his more affectionate side while talking to Lani as he did with all women.

"Just watch me." Lani said.

"What about me?" came a voice from behind them. They turned and saw Mikoto had unsheathed the knife from her boot.

"Mikoto, you're not strong enough to fight something like this." Zidane said.

"Are you forgetting that I'm also an Angel of Terra?"

"No, but you don't have enough battle experience. Stay back with the Black Mages."

Giganos' rage had reached its boiling point and he let out an ear shattering roar of hatred and bloodlust as he charged at the heroes.

"Get ready." Kuja said. Zidane stood with the Ultima Weapon ready behind him, Lani had her axe in both hands out in front of her, while Kuja stood with his arms bent at his sides. They were ready to charge when Mikoto suddenly blew passed them, running with reckless abandon at the stampeding monster before them.

"Mikoto!" Zidane and Kuja yelled. They both took off after her. Lani took off as soon as she noticed that the two Genomes were running.

_She's going to get herself killed_. Zidane thought.

_This is going too far Mikoto._ Kuja thought.

_I can't let her get killed._ Zidane thought.

_I won't let her die_. Kuja thought.

A blinding light surrounded the two of them as they ran. It was so bright that Lani had to stop running and shield her eyes. When the light dissipated, Zidane was glowing a bright pink and Kuja was glowing a bright red. They had tranced. Zidane kept running but Kuja was hovering a few inches off the ground. Mikoto continued running but turned and smiled at the both of them, then turned back to face her enemy.

"That was her plan the whole time!" Kuja said to Zidane as they kept moving.

"She tried to get us to trance by risking her life?"

Kuja nodded. "I'll kill her when we're done with this."

"Same here."

They turned to look at Giganos as he let out a roar of pain. Mikoto had side stepped his attack and managed to make a rather deep cut in his right front leg. She continued running and leapt onto the dragon's back leg and started climbing.

While Giganos was distracted with the gash in his leg, Zidane used the Ultima Weapon to pole vault on the dragon's nose and climbed up his face. He quickly ran to the back of Giganos' neck and started to attack. Mikoto ran to his side after dragging her knife along the length of Giganos' back. They started to attack in perfect unison.

Kuja had gone back and grabbed Lani. While she hung onto Kuja's arm with one of her own, she had her other arm gripping her axe, ready to come down on Giganos when they were in position. Kuja flew over Giganos' head and held Lani in position. They were twenty feet over the dragon's head. Kuja nodded at Lani who nodded back. Kuja let go of her and flew so he would land behind his siblings. Lani dropped straight down. "HEADS UP!" she yelled at Zidane and Mikoto. As they heard her they stepped back just in time. Lani came down with her axe striking Giganos' head with enough force to shatter a rock.

Lani continued to chop away at the dragon's hide while Zidane and Mikoto continued slicing away at what they could. Kuja cast Flare and Flare Star where he could. Giganos flailed wildly, trying to get his attackers off of his back.

"This isn't enough!" Kuja yelled at the others. "Hit him harder!"

As soon as he said it, a Firaga spell was cast in the middle of Giganos' back, followed by another, then two more. Then his entire back was covered in flame. Kuja looked over and saw that the Black Mages were lined up in a semi circle with Mr. 288 in the middle leading the attack. "Ready." Mr. 288 commanded. The Black Mages all gathered their Firaga attacks in their hands. "Fire!" The Black Mages attacked with enough heat to melt a mountain.

The pain coming from all sides was enough to drop Giganos to his knees. He saw no other choice and pulled his wings out and tried to fly away. As he started to lift off Kuja turned to Zidane.

"We need to finish this now!" he yelled.

"Agreed." Zidane said. He turned to the women and nodded. Lani took her axe and swiped it across a section of Giganos' neck exposing a thin membrane of muscle. Mikoto sliced away at the last bit of muscle and exposed the base of Giganos' skull. They both got out of the way as Zidane and Kuja stood side by side concentrating on their strongest attacks.

They extended one hand each as they powered up their strongest spells.

"ULTIMA!"

"GRAND LETHAL!"

Humongous explosions went off as spears of pure energy lanced the skull of the God of the Undead. The spells both attacked Giganos' brain directly. The strength of the attacks were enough to destroy it almost instantly.

With his brain destroyed, Giganos was finally killed. He started to plummet to the ground when Zidane realized how high up they were.

"Guys! We're above the Iifa Tree!"

They all looked over and sure enough, they were easily more than five hundred feet above the Tree of Life. A light grew around Zidane and he faded out of trance, but he noticed that Kuja was still glowing red.

"Kuja," Zidane said, "You take Lani and Mikoto and fly off of here."

"What about you? You'll die if you stay here."

"I'll be fine. Besides, I don't think you can carry all of us."

Kuja saw the ground approaching fast. "Are you sure?"

"I got passed all of those vines in the Iifa Tree, didn't I?"

Kuja nodded and took Mikoto and Lani's hands.

"Zidane…" Mikoto said.

"I'll be fine Mikoto. Don't worry."

"Zidane." Lani said. "You still owe me that favor."

"I know Lani. I intend to pay you back in full."

Kuja lifted off the back of the dead god with Mikoto and Lani in hand.

As Zidane fell he sighed and strapped the Ultima Weapon to his back. He took out the Mythril Dagger and looked at the dragon wing on his left. _Maybe I should have gone with them_, he thought.

At the same time Kuja was putting Mikoto and Lani on the ground just as his trance faded. By traveling at an angel, he had managed to fly faster than Giganos' body while maintaining a level of safety in his flight. The Black Mages ran up to them as fast as they could. After looking around one of them asked "Where's Zidane?" Mikoto pointed to Giganos' falling corpse. They all looked up and watched as it got closer and closer to the ground until it landed with a thunderous crash.

"Zidane!" many of them yelled. Lani and Mikoto looked on in disbelief.

Kuja looked up and smiled. "He's up there." he told the others.

Sure enough, Zidane was floating down at a rapid, yet controlled pace. He had torn away a section of the wing and created a makeshift parachute. He landed right next to Giganos' corpse and put the wing down. "YEEAAAAHHHH!" he yelled as he raised his fists above his head in victory and he ran to the others.

Everyone ran up to meet him and crowded around him. Mikoto gave him the biggest hug she could while Kuja clasped his shoulder and Lani gave him a big friendly slap on the back. The Black Mages all cheered for him.

Despite the cheers and the joyous attitude, Zidane couldn't help but feel sad.

How much longer was it going to be before he saw Dagger again?

----------------

Krimson- My best chapter ever.

Damien- I'll admit, it was good.

Krimson- Now I need to go take a nap for a few days.

Damien- Come on, it wasn't that hard.

Krimson- Someone like me writing more than 2000 words in five hours? That's a hell of an accomplishment.

Damien- Oh, you're being overly dramat- (head gets turned into a giant cherry)

Krimson- Darn ADD.

Damien- Mff hm hmm mmf! (_What the hell jerk?)_

Krimson- Yeah, I have my fun.

Damien- Mmm gmmf gff mmm! (_I'm gonna kill you!_)

Krimson- That means 'Please Read and Review".

Damien- Mmm mffmm mmffgmm! (_You lying bastard!_)


	10. Aftermath

Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy or any of the characters in this story.

Krimson- Actually, you know what? I don't care anymore! Forget about the disclaimer! I do own the characters in this story! Hooray for me!

Damien- Hey, there's some guys in suits who want to talk to you.

Krimson- Huh?

Damien- They keep saying 'lawsuit'. I think they're lawyers.

Krimson- Oh god! _ImsorryImsorryImsorry_!!!

Damien- They looked pretty pissed.

Krimson- I don't own anything! Really! Everything does belong to Square-Enix!

Damien- I think they had guns.

Krimson- Aaauuuugggghhhh!!!

Damien- This is Chapter 10: Aftermath.

Krimson- Please don't sue me!

----------------

After the defeat of Giganos, things settled down pretty quickly. The Black Mages continued to work on making the mist capsules while Kuja continued to draw more rejuvenation circles. Zidane, Mikoto and Lani were sitting together on a grassy knoll off to the side, recovering after the hard fight. Mikoto and Lani were talking while Zidane tried to get some sleep.

"So, after Zidane and the others left for Terra, Kuja followed them in his ship, right?" Lani asked.

Mikoto nodded. "Yes. The Invincible. Once he arrived on Terra, he waited until Zidane and his comrades defeated Garland. Then Kuja fought them, resulting in him receiving the power of trance."

"Trance is the same thing that happened to Zidane and Kuja when we fought the dragon thing, isn't it?"

"Exactly."

"Looks like something I'd want."

Mr. 288 was looking over the progress being made by the other Black Mages. They had been working for the past hour and had created more than one thousand mist capsules. A few more hours and the Black Mages wouldn't need to worry about coming here again for a long, long time. By now, every Black Mage present had taken a capsule. The pills they were making now were surplus.

Kuja had drawn more than thirty rejuvenation circles. He looked on, making sure the Black Mages were doing everything right, using their spells in the right place and storing the capsules. He didn't want a repeat of earlier. The only problem left was getting the capsules back to the village, but some of the Black Mages had gone back to Conde Petie to buy some coolers to keep the mist capsules cold. They were made of ice after all.

"Kuja," said Mr.288, "We appreciate what you've done for us today, but one thing still bothers me."

"What is it?" Kuja asked still looking on at the progress being made.

"These capsules will prolong our lives, but we still can not reproduce. And as you said, we are not immortal. One day, there will be no more Black Mages."

Kuja glanced at Mr. 288. "So you want a way to have children. Is that it?"

"In a manner a speaking yes."

Kuja stood in thought for a minute. After a little bit his head snapped up and snapped his fingers. "There's a book back at the Desert Palace. If I can get it, I might be able to find a way help you."

"We would appreciate that Kuja."

"But I don't feel like doing it alone, so I'll take Zidane and Lani with me. Alright?"

"Very well."

Mr. 288 turned back to assist the other Black Mages wherever he could. Kuja walked over to the three fighters relaxing on the small patch of grass. Zidane was lying on his back, obviously asleep. Mikoto and Lani were still talking to each other. Kuja gave Zidane a quick, but gentle, kick to the side. He roused, not in too deep a sleep. "Everyone listen up." Kuja said. "We need to plan what to do now."

Zidane gave a yawn, stretched and stood up. Mikoto and Lani stopped talking and looked at him, still sitting.

"Mr. 288 pointed something out to me and I need to get something from the Desert Palace. A book which gives details about how to create more Black Mages."

"Why do you need that?" Zidane asked.

"If they can't reproduce, then they will eventually die out. These capsules don't give them immortality."

"Can't you make them the way you did last time?" Lani asked, glad that Mikoto took the time to explain everything to her.

"No. I used the dregs of soul found in the mist in the Iifa Tree to do that, but because the mist has changed, I can't use the same technique. I'll need to find a different way to do it and the only place that could have that information would be either the Desert Palace or Oeilvert, and I don't fell like going to another continent without a ship."

"Alright." Mikoto stood up with a small grin, happy she'd be able to go on another adventure with her brothers. "When do we leave?"

"We leave later tonight when everything is packed up." Kuja said, putting the emphasis on 'we'. "You, Mikoto, will go back with the Black Mages and watch over the Genomes like you have been."

Mikoto stood with a slightly saddened expression. She bit the tip of her lower jaw. "You mean I can't go?" she said on the verge of crying.

"No. It's safer for you to go back to the village. Besides, I'm sure the Genomes miss you terribly."

Mikoto calmly turned to her other brother. "Zidane? You'll let me go right?"

Zidane just crossed his arms and looked at his feet. He took a breath and said, "Sorry Mikoto, but Kuja's right. If you go back you will be safer."

"But you saw how I handled myself out there. I can fight as well as you guys."

"There's also the Genomes to consider Mikoto. They're like children and they need a leader. I'll bet they're pretty comfortable with you as their leader."

"I don't believe this!" Mikoto protested. "Lani?" she said turning to her new friend.

Lani put her hands up defensively in front of her. "Hey, hey. Don't get me involved."

Mikoto stood still for a moment, feeling betrayed by everyone, then put on her usual stern expression and calmly walked away from the group. Zidane could see a tear running down her cheek.

"I feel bad for her" Zidane said.

"It's better for the Genomes Zidane." Kuja said. "Like you said, they're like children. They need someone like Mikoto."

"Perhaps I can help." came a voice from behind. They turned and saw Mr. 386 standing behind them. "Mikoto has asked me to help with the Genomes' readjusting to life here and I believe they are quite familiar with me. I believe that they will be able to cope without Mikoto for a while."

"This trip could take months." Kuja said.

"The Genomes will be just fine. I promise."

"There's still the matter of her safety."

"Quite the caring brother, aren't you?" Kuja crossed his arms and fell back into himself. Mr. 386 gave a small chuckle. "I wouldn't worry about her too much. From what I saw in the battle, she was doing even better than you Kuja."

"Observational bias, perhaps?" he grinned.

"Perhaps, but I'm sure she'll be fine. She's an excellent fighter if you let her be."

Kuja nodded in understanding and turned to Zidane and Lani. "Well, what do you think?"

"I'm all for it." Zidane said. "I'll keep a close eye on her to make sure she makes it out of the battles in one piece."

Kuja turned to Lani. "What about you, Lani?" he asked politely.

She put her hands on her hips. "Actually, she's the only one of this whole lot that I can really stand."

"It's decided then."

**Hours later.**

By the end of the day the sky was covered in an orange hue. The Black Mages had created more than ten thousand capsules. There were more than what they could carry in the coolers that finally arrived. Some of the capsules were carried on top of the coolers. If they were fast, the Black Mages could make it back to the village before they melted. Just to be safe, they would cast Blizzard on them every now and then until they could put them in cold storage in the village.

Zidane, Kuja and Lani stood off to one side as the Black Mages gathered everything they needed for the long walk home. Zidane saw Mikoto helping the Black Mages gather their things together and put on her back pack for her trip back to the Black Mage Village. Mr. 288 walked out in front of the other Black Mages.

"We wanted to thank you all again for everything you've done." he said.

"Think nothing of it." Kuja said.

"No problem." Zidane said.

Lani just nodded with a grin.

"We wish you luck with your next trip and pray for your safety." Mr. 288 said.

"Good luck on your trip as well." Kuja said. Somewhere along the line he seemed to have become the group's leader.

The Black Mages began their trip, taking extra care with the coolers holding the mist capsules. Mikoto started to leave with them too. Kuja threw Zidane a side glance.

"Mikoto! Where are you going?" Zidane yelled.

Mikoto turned to face them with a confused look.

"The Desert Palace is this way." Kuja said pointing in the other direction with his thumb. "You're going the wrong way."

Mikoto froze in place. "You mean I can-"

"I can't be the only girl stuck with these two Mikoto." Lani interrupted with a smirk. "C'mon."

Mikoto brightened up instantly. She had the biggest smile on her face that any of them had ever seen as she ran over to them.

Mr.386 had already told all the other Black Mages about Kuja's plan so none of them were surprised when she separated from the group. After a quick goodbye between Mikoto and the Black Mages, everyone was off again.

Zidane, Kuja and Lani hoisted their back packs and set off to look for a way to save the Black Mage race.

Mikoto was glad she could be with her brothers on another journey.

----------------

Krimson- Whoo! Another great chapter. Damien, if you would.

Damien- This is getting old. Please Read and Review.

Krimson- You know what? You should be happier! How about I draw a smiley face on you with a permanent marker?\

Damien- Try it and I'll rip off your arm.

Krimson- How about a giant cookie?

Damien- END THE SKIT ALREADY!!!


	11. Only One Step Left

Disclaimer- I don't own any characters in this story. So there. Shaddap.

Krimson- Sorry I've been gone for so long. I've been working on some Naruto stories lately.

Damien- They suck.

Krimson- My new chapter has more than 6600 words. It's the longest fanfic chapter I've ever written!

Damien- It sucks.

Krimson- I also finally have a beta.

Rashnefein- Hi.

Damien- He sucks.

Krimson- And Damien isn't allowed to have any candy. That's why he's being so bitchy.

Damien- THAT'S NOT IT AND YOU KNOW IT!!! RASHNEFEIN DRANK MY COFFEE!!!

Rashnefein- Mmm. It was good coffee too.

Damien- I'LL KILL YOU!!!

Krimson- Before I lose my beta, this is Chapter 11: Only One Step Left.

Damien- THROAT!!!

Rashnefein- Not the face!

----------------

"Are you sure this is the right one?" Zidane yelled angrily as he jumped onto the Antlion's back. He stuck the Ultima Weapon into one of its legs and pried it off.

"Yes I'm sure." Kuja answered in a voice that was just as angry. He powered up a Flare spell and cast it at the Antlion's head.

"I thought that the entrance into the Desert Palace was the only sand pit that didn't have an Antlion living in it." Zidane hacked at the giant monster's back.

"And I'm supposed to control their breeding now, is that it?" Kuja cast a holy spell which ripped through the Antlion's side.

Zidane sank the Ultima Weapon into the back of the Antlion's neck, ending its life. He jumped off of its back, ran up, and stuck his face into Kuja's. "You've been leading us into an awful lot of monsters lately." Zidane said accusingly. "Maybe I should start leading again."

"Just as we get to the one part in our journey that you couldn't possibly navigate. Brilliant!"

Zidane clenched his hands and teeth, only to stomp away, leaving Kuja to get rid of the Antlion's body so they could get into the Desert Palace. Lani and Mikoto watched the whole event from a safe distance. "They sure act like brothers." Lani noted with a tired voice. "Mmm." was the only thing Mikoto felt like saying.

The truth was that none of them had gotten much sleep lately and they were all a little nerve-wrecked. It had been more than a month since they separated from the Black Mages. Their trip had led them near the Temple of Earth, an area which was always experiencing earthquakes. The entirety of that leg of the trip had taken them a week and a half. Walking around the affected area would have added another two weeks to that. They had only been able to sleep when they collapsed from exhaustion. In addition to that, they had been fighting monsters while on edge. Sleeping in the desert wasn't that easy either. It seemed like something was always crawling out of the sand to eat them or lay eggs in their stomachs. If Kuja had a large comfy bed somewhere in the Desert Palace, blood would be shed as to who got to sleep in it.

Kuja powered up another Flare spell and launched it at the Antlion's corpse, destroying it instantly. "Alright!" he yelled. "Let's get some sleep and look for the book in the morning." The book they were looking for was, of course, the one which would tell them how to save the Black Mages from extinction.

"I have a better idea." Zidane said. "How about we sleep for a week, then look for the book."

"Here, here." the girls agreed.

With the Antlion's body gone, they were able to enter the Desert Palace at last. Kuja drew a small circular symbol in the sand. It was similar to the rejuvenation circles he drew for the Black Mages, but smaller and less intricate. He pooled his magic into the symbol and the sand stopped pouring around the sink hole. The sand receded and a concrete platform with a metal ladder leading down into the palace was revealed.

Kuja was the first to descend. Zidane, Mikoto and Lani followed in that order. They arrived in the room which led to the holding cells Zidane and the others woke up in on their first visit. They stood in the center of the room's T-junction.

"Now where?" Zidane asked impatiently.

"Well, if we're going to sleep first, the master bedroom and the guest bedrooms are this way." Kuja started down the main hallway which led into the palace. Zidane, Mikoto and Lani followed at their own paces behind him.

As Kuja led the way through the base he kept looking around as if he was seeing this place for the first time. "What's wrong?" Mikoto asked with more curiosity than concern.

"There should be monsters running around here." It was true. There were no monsters anywhere. Not that anyone was complaining.

"What do you think happened?" Lani asked for the hell of it.

"I don't know." Kuja answered. There was a hint of worry in his voice.

"Do you care about them?" Zidane said.

"Whatever killed all of them had to be strong. Really strong."

"You're acting like you think whatever took them out is still here."

"Maybe it is."

"Kuja, you've been gone for more than six months. Why would anything hang around here that long?"

Kuja sighed. "I suppose you're right." He led them down a corridor with paintings of what looked like important leaders on the walls. The doors at the end of the hall were enormous and were carved with lots of detail. There were four panels forming a large square, each depicting someone winning battles and gathering lots of power.

"Hey Kuja," Zidane asked, "What's with the pictures?"

Kuja smiled to himself. "This is what was supposed to happen when I put my plan into action." He pointed to the first panel. "This was when I tricked the Elephant-Lady into starting a national war." He pointed to the second panel. "That was when I captured Bahamut and killed the Elephant-Lady." He pointed to the third panel. "This was when I defeated Garland." He pointed to the fourth panel. "And this was supposed to be when I took over as master of both Terra and Gaia."

"When did you carve this?" Zidane asked.

"A little after the Elephant-Lady's death." Zidane looked a little closer at the pictures. The first two panels looked pretty close to what actually happened, but the third panel showed Kuja beating Garland on top of a mountain, which wasn't what happened. The fourth panel, obviously, never happened.

"I didn't know you could carve wood this artistically Kuja." Mikoto said.

"I dabble." Kuja said with a prideful smirk.

"What do you mean you dabble?" Zidane questioned. "When we were trapped in the Iifa Tree that's all you ever did."

Kuja shrugged off Zidane's statement. "I just wanted something to look at whenever I went to bed."

"So then, is that the bedroom?" Lani asked hopefully.

"Mmm-hmm." Kuja responded.

"Alright!" the other three shouted. The mood lightened in an instant as the promise of a good night's sleep entered their minds. They all picked up the pace and rushed down the hall. Upon entering the room, they saw a large, fluffy, ornate, king size bed. There were treasures and research papers scattered on desks around the room. There was even a large vanity mirror on the side of the room. But no one noticed any of that. All they saw was the blue, silk lined sheets covering what could possibly be the best bed in the world.

"Alright, I'll take this room." Kuja said and pointed to the door they just entered. "The guest beds are through there and to the right. Just don't do anything to wake me up." He started for the large bed in the center of the room.

"Hold on a second." Kuja was cut off from the bed as all the others jumped in front of him. "Why do you think you should get the main bedroom?" they asked.

Kuja wasn't set back by this by much. "Because I bought it and this is my house." he said blandly.

"Well I think I should get it because I haven't killed any of you yet." Lani said, putting her hand on the hilt of her axe.

"It'd be nice if you let me sleep here Kuja." Mikoto said using the cutest expression she could. Apparently, Lani was having some affect on her. "After all, I am your little sister."

"I saved the planet. That's all I'm saying." Zidane said as he crossed his arms.

"I don't care." Kuja said adamantly. "This is my house and these are my rules. If you don't like them then you can go back out to the desert and sleep there."

The others were about to press the argument when a loud, annoying shriek sounded out from the hallway. It sounded like a duck being strangled by a king cobra while school girls beat it with fish.

They all turned to look down the hallway and saw a large black monolith floating in the corridor. It was badly scratched and cracked. Clearly battle damage.

"This must be what killed all the monsters here." Kuja said.

"What is that thing?" Zidane asked.

"That's the Valia Pora. It was the prototype to the Valia Pira, one of my security systems. It must have malfunctioned."

"Dammit, I just want to rest." Zidane complained. He and Kuja readied themselves for battle.

They prepared to charge when Lani and Mikoto gave the loudest battle cry either of the two brothers had ever heard. They ran past them in a mad dash. Mikoto jumped with her knife drawn and landed on Lani's shoulders, who had her axe in hand. As they neared their target, Mikoto jumped off of Lani's shoulders and struck the very top of the Valia Pora while Lani swung her axe deep into its lower half. They jumped back, landing side by side, as the prototype started to shake and crack. It slowly crumbled into a heap on the floor as the two girls turned back for the master bedroom. Kuja and Zidane, who were already standing in the hallway, looked on in a combination of amazement and horror. The girls walked by them and grabbed the edge of the door and turned to look at the guys.

"We'll both take this room, okay?" Mikoto asked.

"Uhh…" was all that came out of the brothers' mouths.

"Goodnight." Lani said impatiently.

Zidane and Kuja stood in silence for a moment.

"We must never get on their bad sides." Kuja said.

"Yeah."

----------------

The beds were comfortable. Really comfortable. Mikoto was the first to wake up the next day. She glanced at a grandfather clock across the room. The hour hand and the minute hand were both a little passed the 3. About 3:17. Mikoto thought that the middle of the afternoon was late enough to get out of bed. She forced her self to drag herself out of the incredibly fluffy bed. She fell to the floor, landing on her side. As Mikoto rubbed her eyes, she looked over at Lani sleeping at the other side of the bed. She had her sheets up to her neck and her head tilted to the side. Mikoto noticed that, despite how she acted when she was awake, Lani really did look like a princess in her sleep. Mikoto walked to Lani's side of the bed and shook her gently.

"Lani. Wake up. It's after three."

Lani raised an eyelid and focused on Mikoto. "Good." she said. "That means I can lounge in bed for a few more hours."

"C'mon. Get up." Mikoto grabbed her friend's sheets and pulled them down. Lani groaned a complaint, but pulled her legs over the edge of the bed anyway. She grabbed her axe from the side of the bed and, strapping the axe to her back, followed Mikoto out of the room.

Mikoto knocked on the guest bedroom door and took a step back. They both waited as no response came. Mikoto knocked again. "Kuja? Zidane?" she called. After a moment she heard movement inside. The sound of footsteps came closer to the door. Kuja opened the door, looking as posh as ever. "What time is it?" he asked.

"After three." Mikoto answered.

"Mmm." Kuja said, still half asleep. He turned the lights on in the room and walked to Zidane's bed. Mikoto and Lani saw that the guest room wasn't nearly as well furnished as the master bedroom, but that was to be expected. The beds looked soft. Not as soft and fluffy as the bed in the master bedroom, but anyone would have a hard time getting out of one of these beds.

Kuja was shaking Zidane, trying to get him to stir. After a few tries he shook his head and walked over to the girls, who were still waiting in the doorway.

"It's no good." he said. "We're going to need something to wake him up."

"Why don't I just jump on his stomach again?" Mikoto asked, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

"That won't work."

"How can you tell?" asked Lani, who was now leaning against the wall next to the doorway the conversation was coming from.

"When Mikoto did that last time, it was only as a last resort. At the time, Zidane was well rested and sleeping in a pile of leaves. Now that he hasn't gotten a decent night's sleep in a month and is sleeping on a silk lined bed, combined with Zidane's odd sleeping patterns, he's two steps away from being classified as comatose."

"What do we do then?"

"We'll need to wake him up the same way I did when we were trapped in the Iifa Tree."

Mikoto's eyes shot open in shock. "Are you sure that's necessary? What if it traumatizes him?"

"Well, that's where he lucks out. Thanks to the Valia Pora, I don't think we'll be able to wake him up for a while."

"Why? Do you need a monster?"

"Yes, but I doubt that any are left in the entire palace."

"Then someone really hates Zidane." Lani said. "Look." She pointed down the hallway as a Grimlock hobbled over the remains of the Valia Pora towards them.

"Perfect." Kuja said with a smile.

The Grimlock, seeing the three of them, ran to attack, as it had been trained. Kuja thought that it was almost cute in how pathetic it looked.

"Mikoto, may I borrow your knife?"

"Uh, sure." she said with the knife already in hand. She handed it over and Kuja rushed at the oncoming monster. The Grimlock roared a tiny roar as it prepared to attack its prey, but Kuja, in surprising speed, managed to stab each of the Grimlock's three faces before it had a chance to do anything. It fell to the ground in a heap.

Kuja picked up one of the sections. "Can you two give me a hand with this?"

Lani and Mikoto gave each other a confused look and walked over to help Kuja. They both picked up their own sections of the segmented monster. They looked at Kuja, wondering what to do next. "Follow me." he said.

Kuja led them back into the guest room and up to Zidane's bed. "Mikoto, can you hold this over him please?" Kuja asked holding out his section of the Grimlock.

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"Disembowel it and pour the entrails onto Zidane."

"WHAT?!? Kuja, that's horrible."

"Hey, the smell wakes him up after a while."

"That's how you woke him up in the Iifa Tree?"

"Yes."

"No!" Mikoto shouted while shaking her head. "No, no, no, no, no! There has to be something better to do than that."

"I have an idea." Lani said. She pushed Mikoto out of her way as she walked up to Zidane's side. She knelt down and gave him a peck on the forehead. Within moments, Zidane was stirring and he opened his eyes. He looked around the room. "Why is everyone standing around my bed?"

Mikoto spoke up. "Well, you wouldn't wake up so-"

Lani elbowed her in the stomach to keep her from telling Zidane what happened. "We just tried to wake you up. That's all."

Zidane shrugged it off as he crawled out of bed. "Alright." he said.

Zidane's stomach growled as he stood up. He patted it to quiet it. "I guess I'm hungry." he said with a laugh.

The others nodded in agreement. "Let's get something to eat." Mikoto said.

They walked out of the room and headed for the kitchen, hiding the Grimlock pieces under Zidane's bed.

----------------

Later, after a quick lunch, they searched the library for the book that would tell how to make Black Mages without the dregs of souls. They had spent the better half of an hour searching, but to no avail. Kuja's library was huge and many of the books took a long time to look through. Kuja's library covered all sorts of sorcery, things like teleportation, advanced technological marvels, and the power of the soul.

Kuja was leaning against a bookcase. There was a growing stack of books next to him. Zidane and Mikoto were sitting at a table. There were several small stacks of books on the table. Lani was sitting on the rungs of a ladder. There was a messy pile of books that had been dropped to the ground next to the ladder. In a way, they looked like a scattered study group.

Lani threw another book to the floor in disgust after a hour of searching. "I'm so sick of this!" she yelled. The others looked at her, feeling the same thing. They must have gone through more than twenty books each, but to no avail. Out of all of them, Kuja was the only one who didn't seem to be getting too impatient.

"Look, why don't you all take a break." Kuja offered. He put down the book that was in his hands and grabbed a new one.

"But what about you?" Mikoto asked.

"No, I'll keep looking."

Zidane, Mikoto and Lani glanced at each other, the at the growing piles of books, then to each other. They picked up their books and continued flipping through the pages.

"Aren't you guys going to take a break?" Kuja asked.

"We'll take a break when we're done." Zidane said speaking for himself and the girls, who nodded in agreement.

Kuja smiled. He was glad that they were so determined. It would make their search much less tedious. He put the book in his hands on the pile by his side and pulled another one from the bookcase behind him.

It was another hour before anyone said anything. Zidane leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh.

"Tired?" Mikoto teased.

"Mmm."

It was already late in the day. They were all tired and bored out of their minds.

"It feels like we've searched through half of this library." he said.

"Oh, this is nowhere near half." Kuja said.

"I know. I was exaggerating."

"No, I mean there's three other floors just like this one."

Zidane, Mikoto and Lani froze in place. This floor was already bigger than it had the right to be, but if there were more than this, their search could easily take months.

"What do you mean there's more floors like this?" Zidane asked weakly.

"Of course. You didn't think I could put up having this few books, did you?"

Lani had to stop herself from jumping on Kuja and beating the crap out of him. Mikoto laid her head on the table and almost cried. Zidane, giving into his exhaustion, leaned back in his chair.

"Look out!" Kuja said.

Zidane's eyes widened as he realized too late that he leaned back too far in his chair. He scrambled to get a hold of something to stop his decent, but he only grabbed air. He fell back and fell against the bookcase, causing several books to fall to the floor. As Zidane pulled himself up he glanced at the books on the ground. None of them seemed worth checking out, except the one that caught his eye. The title was Origins of Black Magic.

Zidane grabbed the book and picked his chair back up. He sat at the table and flipped through the pages. "Guys. I think this might be it." he said. He stopped at a section which read, Creating a Black Magic User. The others had gathered around him and read over his shoulder. The chapter went on to describe how to make Black Mages using the dregs of soul.

Zidane let out a sigh. "I don't think this is going to help."

"Let me see that." Kuja said. Zidane gave him the book and Kuja began speeding through the pages. After a few moments his eyes widened and a huge grin spread across his face.

"What is it?" Mikoto asked.

"YES!" Kuja victoriously jumped into the air. "This is it!"

Everyone let out cheers of joy and relief. Now, instead of having to stay at the Desert Palace for months, reading books of topics they couldn't begin to care about, they could leave and save the Black Mages!

"Good job Zidane." Kuja said, patting Zidane on the back.

"No problem." Zidane responded, rubbing the back of his head where he landed.

"Let's get some food to celebrate." Lani suggested. Her idea received cheers from the others.

They celebrated late into the night. Kuja managed to pull a grand feast together. His kitchen was well stocked with non-perishable foods. Dinner wasn't anything too special, but the presentation made everything seem spectacular. The dining hall was fully lit up with candles in every corner of the room. The dinnerware was shining silver. Kuja even pulled out some Champaign out from a wine cellar he had beneath the kitchen. They drank some of it and left the rest for the trip back.

It was well after midnight before they finally went to bed.

----------------

They left at noon the next day. Everyone had woken up early and prepared everything they needed for their trip back to the Black mage Village. Food, water, clothes. Things of that nature.

Even Zidane had woken up on time. He complained of some smell in his room, like rotting monster flesh.

No one told him what was shoved under his bed.

The return trip had taken them a month an a half. They decided not to go past the Earth Temple again. Undoing all the relaxation they got in the Desert Palace like that didn't seem very smart

The reception they got at the Black Mage Village was more than welcome. They were all mobbed by any Black Mage near the entrance of the village. Mikoto noted that many of them looked much healthier. The mist capsules must have really worked. She smiled, knowing that her Black Mage friends were going to live healthier, longer lives.

Lani stayed back, as was her style. She didn't want to get in anyone's way, especially since the atmosphere was so jovial. Instead, she spent a lot of time at the synthesis shop getting her axe improved.

Zidane insisted on Mikoto introducing him to all the Genomes. Now that Zidane had the time, he wanted to learn more about them. He learned about their likes and dislikes, which had expanded significantly since he last checked. Since the destruction of Terra, they were slowly becoming their own people, even if they were technically soulless.

The first thing Kuja did when he got back to the village was have a meeting with Mr. 288 about how to handle the issue on reproduction.

"So how does it work?" Mr. 288 asked patiently.

"Simple." Kuja said. He walked over to the freezer which held the mist capsules. He took one out and held it in his hand. It was absolutely freezing. Kuja knew that if they were kept in that condition, the pills would last a long time. He placed it on the table.

"All you need to do now is add your life force and your magic to this capsule and you'll have a younger version of yourself."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"By 'life force', do you mean blood?"

"Well, all children are created by giving a bit of yourself and adding a little magic." Kuja said with a smirk. "The Black Mages are no different."

Mr. 288 nodded knowledgeably.

"Thank you Kuja. You have done us a great favor."

Mr. 288 picked up the mist capsule and put it back in the freezer.

"You're not going not use the capsule?" Kuja asked in a disappointed tone. In all truth, he had wanted to see such magic happen first hand.

"No. I find that I have no reason to have children."

"And why is that?"

Mr. 288 turned and looked at Kuja with a proud smile. "Because everyone in this village is already like a child to me."

Kuja paused, then smiled back.

----------------

Zidane sat on the handrail outside of the inn looking up at the stars. He remembered that the last time he looked at the stars like that, he was looking at them with Dagger. Now that the Black Mages were safe from extinction, nothing was stopping him from returning to his queen.

_Not much longer, Dagger._

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when the big yellow bird walked up behind him.

"KWEH!"

Zidane nearly fell off of the handrail. He got a good hold on the rail again and turned to see his sister riding the village's favorite chocobo, Bobby Corwen.

"If you aren't careful you'll fall off." Mikoto warned.

"Gee, thanks." Zidane said sarcastically.

Mikoto giggled to herself and gave Bobby Corwen a soft pat on the neck. He had grown quite a lot since Zidane had seen him last. He was now about as tall as any of the Black Mages in the village. Mikoto was just light enough to ride him.

"What were you thinking about just now?" she asked.

Zidane glanced at her with a smirk. "Isn't it obvious?"

Mikoto smiled back and glanced up at the stars. "You'll see her soon enough Zidane."

Zidane turned back to the stars.

"How were you going to go back?" Mikoto asked.

"What?"

"How are you planning on getting back to the Mist Continent?" she asked again. "Fossil Roo was sealed off, remember?"

Zidane hadn't forgotten. That was one of the first thing that Lani told him when she rescued him. He leaned his head back. That moment seemed so long ago.

"I hadn't really thought about it." he said, answering her question. Zidane had hoped that something would just happen by, like if Garnet flew by on the Red Rose unexpectedly and picked him up. That would've been nice.

Zidane's eyes flew open as he realized something.

"Kuja's ship!"

"What?" Mikoto responded.

"The Hilda Garde 1. Kuja had it for a while. Maybe it's nearby."

Mikoto rested her head on her chin in thought. She hadn't thought of that. It was entirely possible.

"I lost it."

Zidane and Mikoto turned to see Kuja walking down the pathway.

"What do you mean you lost it?" Zidane asked.

"I mean it's sitting somewhere at the bottom of the sea right now. Near Esto Gaza I would suspect."

"But why?"

Kuja pulled some of his hair out of his face. "After I used it to travel to the Shimmering Isle, I had no one left to pilot it, so I let it fall into the ocean."

"So there's no way to get it back?"

"Not in a reasonable amount of time."

Zidane clenched his teeth. "Dammit!" he yelled. He slammed his fist on the handrail.

"You give up too easily Zidane." Mikoto said.

Zidane and Kuja gave questioning looks to their sister. She slid off of her chocobo friend and walked up to them, smiling from ear to ear.

"I talked to some of the Black Mages earlier. They said they're willing to help build a ship."

"Really?" Zidane said hopefully.

"Yup."

Zidane was ecstatic for a moment before he realized…

"Wait. How long would it take to build a ship?"

"Maybe a month or two." Kuja answered.

"Actually, it'll probably take more like three or four months." Mikoto answered. "No one here knows how to make a boat, so it might take a little longer than normal."

"Not with my ideas." Kuja said, tapping his temple.

Zidane and Mikoto looked at Kuja.

"I can design a ship that will survive the ocean trip and can be built in only a month."

"Really?"

"The only problem is getting the wood for it."

"No it isn't." came a voice from behind them. They all turned and saw Lani walking towards them. She held the handle in her right hand while bouncing the blade in her left. She had a dangerous smirk on her face.

"With the improvements on my axe I can cut down an entire forest in a day."

"No way." Zidane said excitedly.

"You want to find out?" she said, pointing her axe at him playfully.

"That's okay Lani." he answered with a nervous laugh.

Lani just chuckled as she strapped her axe to her back.

Mikoto looked at the group. "So with Kuja's plans, Lani's axe, and Zidane's…" she paused as she looked for the right word. "…enthusiasm, we just might be able to pull this off."

"Awesome." Zidane said. He could hardly wait to see Garnet's face when she saw what he had in store for her. If it only took a month to build the ship, then his plan would work just fine.

"Well, it's late." Kuja said with a stretch. "I'm headed to bed."

The others nodded in agreement. Zidane and Mikoto yawned while Lani stretched her arms. After a quick round of 'Goodnights' everyone headed to bed. Mikoto left for her hut while Zidane, Lani and Kuja walked into the inn.

They had a busy day ahead of them.

----------------

Zidane woke up and stretched his arms over his head. He looked through the window and saw the sun coming up over the horizon. There was probably still time to sleep before the village started construction on the boat. He rested his head back on his pillow, thinking about seeing Garnet again.

"Timber!"

Zidane sat up again. He heard branches breaking followed by a thunderous crash. Zidane jumped out of bed and ran out of the inn.

As Zidane exited the inn, he saw everyone in the village hard at work. Many of the Genomes were working on the farms. The Black Mages were either helping the Genomes or they were carrying lumber. Zidane walked through the crowd in wonder. _They started working already?_

After a bit of searching, he found Kuja and Mikoto working over a podium. Kuja was scribbling something on a piece of paper while Mikoto told the Black Mages waiting for orders what to do. Zidane looked deeper into the woods and saw Lani chopping down trees.

"TIMBER!" she yelled again. She readied her axe over her shoulder and used all of her weight in her swing. She cut through the tree in one stroke. Zidane was slightly frightened, considering that the tree had to be at least a foot and a half thick. He backed away to the podium where he could find his siblings.

He walked up to the podium and rested his arms on its edge. "Morning." he said in a tired voice.

"Good morning." Kuja said without looking up. He continued to scribble measurements.

"Sleep well?" Mikoto asked.

"Until I got woken up by all the construction." Zidane replied. He let out a light hearted laugh. Mikoto did the same.

Kuja picked up two pieces of paper and gave one each to Zidane and Mikoto. "Here are your lists."

Mikoto took her sheet and walked over to a group of Black Mages waiting to help her. Many of them had saws, but a few of them had hatchets.

Zidane took the sheet of paper and read it. There were numbers listed on it. Quite a lot of them too. "What is this Kuja?"

"You are charged with getting the wood cut into these sizes." he answered, pointing to Zidane's list. He went back to drawing a schematic for the boat.

Now that Zidane looked at it, the list made sense. There were sizes of wood listed and the quantity needed written next to that. But Zidane noticed one problem.

"Kuja, how am I supposed to do this all alone?"

Kuja looked up from his plans. "Don't be ridiculous. Get some of the Black Mages to help you."

Zidane noticed a lot of Black Mages were hanging around doing nothing. He walked over to them. They all had saws. They were sitting on the logs they were meant to cut. They looked at Zidane as he came over to them and stood, ready to help out when they saw that he had the measurements for the lumber.

Zidane glanced at them over the top edge of the paper. "Okay. Is everyone ready?"

The Black Mages responded with a healthy "Yes!"

They set to cutting up the wood which would make the outer layer of the ship's hull.

Later that evening, after everyone decided that they were sick of the smell of sawdust, the whole village had gathered for a huge dinner feast to celebrate a job well done so far. They finished cutting the wood for the right side of the ship and the entire frame. Tomorrow, they would finish cutting the wood for the left side of the ship. The day after that, they would drag the wood to the ocean and start assembling it.

The three Angels of Death sat together at dinner, talking about their memories from the last few months.

"So I collapsed out of hunger on the fork leading to the Iifa Tree. Lani must've picked me up a little after that."

"And she dragged you back to Madain Sari?" Kuja asked.

"Yep."

"That was the first time a girl ever took you home, right Zidane?" Mikoto teased.

"Hey, I've been to Alexandria Castle with Dagger."

Kuja and Mikoto just laughed at Zidane's reaction. After a moment, Zidane couldn't help but laugh too. It had been awhile since they really sat and talked like this.

"What were you doing then Kuja?" Mikoto asked.

"You mean when Zidane was rescued by Lani?"

Mikoto nodded.

Kuja leaned back so that he was resting on his hands. "At that time I was getting a crudely drawn map from the Dwarves."

"That's how you found the Black Mage Village?" Zidane asked.

"Well, it's not like I had ever been there before."

Zidane smirked. He put his plate off to one side and laid back in the grass. Mikoto finished her food and followed suit. Kuja just stayed the way he was, leaning back on his arms.

They were quiet for a few minutes as they looked at the stars. Zidane finally broke the silence as he wondered something aloud.

"Do you guys think Dagger's looking at the same stars right now?"

Kuja and Mikoto just looked at him.

Mikoto decided to answer him. "It's sweet that you're thinking about her Zidane, but…"

Zidane sat up after she paused. "But what?"

"She isn't looking at the same stars as you Zidane." Kuja said in a dark tone.

"You mean you think she's moved on?" he asked in a very concerned voice.

"No. I mean, you're facing east. Alexandria Castle faces southwest."

The three of them paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. Zidane grabbed a pile of sawdust and threw it at Kuja's feet. The laughing continued for a minute until Lani threw a soccer ball at Zidane's head. Mikoto caught it as it bounced off.

"Hey!" Lani called. "Help me teach these guys soccer."

Zidane and Mikoto jumped up and ran over to Lani's side to help her out. Kuja stayed back and laid back on the grass. Images went through his head of the last few months and how much everyone had changed. Mikoto was showing more emotion than ever. Lani was friendly. Zidane hadn't changed much, but he was far more mature. Kuja realized that he himself had become closer to his siblings and was more accepting of others. As he drifted off to sleep in the grass, he wondered what he was going to do after they got the boat built.

----------------

It didn't take as long to build the boat as Kuja had predicted. With all the Black Mages helping, they managed to finish it in just three weeks. In many ways, it looked like a smaller version of the Blue Narcissus. The boat was ready to launch. All the necessary supplies had been carried on; food, blankets, and such. Zidane and Lani stood by it, saying their goodbyes.

"Make sure you visit at least every other month, okay?" Mikoto said as she hugged her big brother goodbye.

"I will." he said as he hugged her back.

Mikoto broke the hug and walked up to Lani. "Keep him in line, okay?"

Lani gave her a thumbs up. "You got it."

Mikoto gave her a smile and a quick hug.

Zidane was standing in front of Kuja. They looked at each other intently.

"Kuja." Zidane began. "When we first met, I thought you were crazy and completely evil."

Kuja raised an eyebrow.

"Even when we escaped from the Iifa Tree, I thought that you still couldn't be trusted. But now that you've saved the Black Mages and helped Mikoto and me, I think you've become a much better person." Zidane stuck his hand out towards Kuja.

"I'm gonna miss you brother."

Kuja looked down at Zidane's hand and grabbed it with his own. They shook.

"Thanks…brother."

"I'll talk to Dagger," Zidane continued. "I'll see if you can be allowed back into Alexandria."

Kuja smiled at his little brother. "Alright then." Kuja broke off the handshake and jumped onto the boat.

Zidane was confused for a moment. "Kuja, what are you doing?"

Kuja turned and rested his arms on the railing. "I'm going with you, what else?"

"But…" Zidane began, then he realized that he had no reason to argue against Kuja's decision. He nodded. "Right."

After a few more rounds of goodbyes, the ship, nicknamed the "Fiji Warrior", sailed off to the south.

After ten minutes of sailing, Lani was fixing the sails while Zidane steered it. The ship was originally designed for two people, so Kuja was standing on the bow of the Fiji Warrior. "Alright!" he said. "Next stop, Alexandria Harbor!"

"We're not going to Alexandria." Zidane said.

"What!" came the cry from Kuja and Lani. They glared at him as he turned the Fiji Warrior to the south.

"Zidane! What are you doing?" Kuja asked.

"We're going to Lindblum."

"But why?" Lani asked.

"Dagger's birthday is in two months. I have an idea."

----------------

Krimson- My eyes hurt from writing on the computer too much.

Damien- Whiner.

Rashnefein- I found a typo!

Damien- What's he doing?

Krimson- Being a beta.

Rashnefein- You call _that_ a sentence?

Damien- Well he's too loud. Tell him to stop it.

Rashnefein- Another typo.

Krimson- If I do that, then my chapters would have more errors in them.

Damien- Like they don't already suck.

Krimson- Shouldn't you be saying your line?

Damien- But why? I say it every time while you just sit around eating or juggling chainsaws.

Rashnefein- What horrible grammar.

Krimson- It's a running gag. They're funny if they're done right.

Rashnefein- Another friggin' typos!

Damien- Fine. Please Read and Review. Happy now?

Rashnefein- No. Krimson's writing is atrocious.

Damien- That's what I've been saying.

Krimson- Great. Now there's two of them.


	12. Confessions

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the characters in this story. They belong to Square-Enix.

Krimson- Alright! It's the last chapter!

Rashnefein- I only got to beta two chapters?

Damien- Sucks for you.

Rashnefein- Watch it or I'll spell check your name wrong.

Krimson- Those two fight like you wouldn't believe.

Bob- What the hell? It says my name is Bob!

Rashnefein- Spell checkin' bitch!

Krimson- This is Chapter 12: Confessions.

Sally- Why do you people keep torturing me???

Rashnefein- HAHAHAHA!!!

----------------

"Your highness." Steiner said. "The theatre ship will be here in an hour."

He still wore the same rusted armor. The shine was long gone and was replaced with a dull gray. The armor ground together when he walked, making an obnoxious squeak that could be heard throughout the room. Queen Garnet didn't mind it though. It was just how Steiner was.

"Your highness?"

Garnet turned away from the window in her room. She would often get lost in the shades of blue in the skyline. It would remind her of Zidane's eyes. In fact, it was surprising how everything seemed to remind her of Zidane. From the daggers in the weapon shops in town to the mere mention of words like 'thief' or 'actor'. She missed him terribly. Every morning she woke up wondering where he was and every night she went to sleep wondering when he would return.

She wore her flowing white gown. It dragged behind her as she walked. It was very expensive and it practically glowed from its beauty.

Garnet hated it.

She hated it, but she wore it. It was her duty as the queen of Alexandria. She represented the people of Alexandria and as such, had to look her best. But she preferred the orange jumpsuit from her adventures with everyone. Over time, it just became more comfortable. She was just so much happier with her jumpsuit because _he_ was always around.

As she approached Steiner, she kept her gaze to the ground. "Make sure the seats are all prepared for our guests when they enter."

Steiner noticed the sad, quiet tone in her voice. "Is everything all right your highness?"

Garnet raised her head and Steiner was surprised to see her smiling brightly. "Of course Steiner. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well…you were looking out the window again."

Garnet let out a small giggle. "Steiner, you worry about me too much."

"It is my job your highness."

"Of course." Garnet pulled back a strand of hair that fell in front of her face. "Now if you will excuse me, I must check on the catering."

Steiner stood up straight and saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

Garnet smiled and turned to the door. As she opened it she saw the calm visage of General Beatrix. "Oh! Excuse me Beatrix."

"Excuse me your highness." Beatrix started. She moved out of Garnet's way from the doorway. "I came to report that the catering is ready."

"Very good." Garnet said. "I have to go and make sure everything is satisfactory. You know how some of the nobles from Treno can be."

"Yes your highness."

Garnet continued down the hallway and exited the corridor. Beatrix watched with concerned eyes as Steiner took her hand with his own. Beatrix turned her attention to Steiner and smiled at him. Steiner smiled back.

"Is she alright?" Beatrix asked.

Steiner shook his head. "She was staring out her window again."

Beatrix gave a low sigh. Garnet was getting more depressed as time went on. The longer she was separated from Zidane, the more likely his death seemed. Freya had talked to Garnet about how she never gave up hope when she thought Fratley was dead. Garnet would simply remind her that Fratley never jumped into a gigantic, rampaging tree.

"It's amazing that she can run the country like this." Steiner said.

"She knows how to put on a strong face." Beatrix explained.

"Hmm." Steiner remembered when Garnet had traveled to Lindblum after Alexandria had been destroyed. She looked so frail and delicate that if someone were to touch her she would shatter. Now, she looked much stronger and she put on a brave face, but those close to her could tell that she was just as fragile.

As Garnet descended the first flight of stairs she wiped a tear from her eye.

----------------

An hour later, the theatre ship landed in the pool of water out in the center courtyard. It settled into the water calmly and the fans keeping it in the air slowly died down. A set of stairways came from the ship's stage to the ground. Baku came out from the ship and descended the stairs and approached Beatrix, who was charged with making sure everything was in order.

"How's it goin'?" Baku asked informally.

"Very well thank you." Beatrix told him. "Is everything ready on your end?"

"Just give my boys a few minutes."

Beatrix glanced to the theatre ship and then to the entrance gate. "We're going to let the audience in now, so you have half an hour. Will that be enough?"

"GWAHAHA!" Baku laughed while smacking his round stomach. "More than enough."

"Very good." Beatrix smiled. She turned to walk back to the queen's side.

"Hold on a second."

Beatrix turned back to face Baku once again. "How's the queen been?" he asked as informally as ever.

Beatrix stood confused for a moment before responding. "She has been well."

Baku chuckled to himself quietly. "Good." He turned back to the theatre ship so he could get into costume. As he walked behind the front curtain he was quickly knocked to the ground.

"Well? How is she?" asked the assailant.

"She's doin' fine Zidane." Baku said. "Now get off." With one quick motion, Baku smacked Zidane away and sent him rolling into a bookshelf. He picked himself up and dusted himself off. Fortunately, none of the books fell on him.

"Alright! Listen up!" Baku yelled. The members of Tantalus all gathered around.

"We're going on in a half an hour. Is everything ready?" Everyone just nodded or said 'yes'. "How about that sound system?"

"The sound system is working fine." Kuja walked out from the shadows and joined the rest of the group. "As long as…what was it again? Mark?"

"Marcus." came the response from the bandana-wearing thief.

"Right, right. As long as Marcus speaks clearly into the microphone, his voice will be projected on stage."

"Are you sure this will work Kuja?" Zidane asked.

"It will work just fine Zidane. I had the same thing set up in the Hilda Garde. Relax."

"Right." Zidane said more to himself. He tapped his fingers in his crossed hands nervously. He had performed in plenty of plays, and the thought of using a sound system instead of his own voice didn't phase him much. It was the thought that his plan might go wrong that terrified him. That Dagger might have moved on or that she would be angry at him for taking so long to return.

Zidane started humming to himself. Kuja recognized the song. It was the same one he sang while they were sailing to Lindblum, and while they traveled to the Desert Palace, and he almost never stopped singing it while they were in the Iifa Tree. The song came from the Village of the Summoners. It was the same one that Garnet sang.

"Alright boys!" Baku said. He earned an angry cough from Ruby. "…and Ruby. We're goin' on soon. Make sure everything works right. I'll kick everyone's asses if something messes up on stage!"

"Right boss!" came the response from everyone but Kuja. Everyone gave the Tantalus salute and walked off to get ready for the show. Kuja walked to the curtain and lifted the flap to the side. After watching the people slowly fill the seats in front of the ship. After a minute he found what he had hoped to see and grinned. Zidane saw him smile and called to him while putting on his costume.

"Is it her?" he asked.

"Yes." Kuja said. "And it seems like the red-heads are having a good time."

Zidane smiled in a way to match Kuja's.

About a month earlier, Lani had gotten insistent and told Zidane to worry about getting Garnet back on his own. She would work on hooking up with Amarant on her own too, claiming that getting her back to the Mist Continent was payment enough for saving his life. She left Lindblum to go search for him. Apparently she had found him. Zidane carefully looked out from the curtain and saw the two red-heads sitting next to each other, albeit uncomfortably. Lani had her hands on her knees and Amarant was leaning forward, resting his chin on his enormous fists. They must have just found each other. _They'll make a great couple._ Zidane thought. He made sure to keep the images of mindless violence they could cause out of his head.

Zidane stole a quick glance to the throne, hoping to see Garnet for a least a fleeting moment, but she hadn't arrived yet. Disappointed, Zidane shut the curtain.

----------------

The Queen of Alexandria walked out to her throne set up on the balcony overlooking the theatre ship. The nobles and other guests had started to sit down and were now a noisy rabble of theatre-goers. Garnet looked throughout the crowd and one-by-one had found all of her old friends, most notably the several Vivi's. Garnet made a mental note to ask him about how he did that…after she found out which one was the real one.

She sat in her throne and looked out to the stage. The play was supposed to start any minute now. She thought back to when her adventure started with the others. This time was almost like that time in every way. Garnet snapped herself awake. She had to stop thinking about the past. _It'll never be the same,_ she thought to herself. _ I have to let go of the past…I have to move on, just like he taught me._

Garnet's attention turned to the stage as everyone in the audience started clapping all at once. Baku walked out on stage, dressed in his royal robes for his role as King Leo. He raised his hands to the audience asking for silence.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Baku said. "Tonight's performance is a story that takes place long, long ago. Our heroine, Princess Cornelia, is torn from her lover, Marcus. She attempts to flee the castle, only to be captured by her father, King Leo. Tonight's story begins when Marcus and Cornelia decide to run away together. And now, Your Royal Majesty, Queen Garnet, Lord Steiner, Lady Beatrix, noble ladies and lords, and our rooftop viewers, Tantalus proudly presents 'I Want to Be Your Canary'!"

Baku turned around and walked backstage. Ruby and Zidane, covered by his brown cloak, walked on stage and took their places. Zidane hid at the bottom of the stairway on the stage. Ruby ran to him from the other side of the stage.

"Marcus?" Ruby asked as Cornelia. "Sweet Marcus, I fear I love thee more than I should!"

"Princess..." Marcus' voice said. "Wilt thou be happy, married to a lowly peasant such as I?" Zidane took Ruby in his arms. He was amazed at how well Kuja's sound system worked. It sounded like Marcus was right in front of him.

"Prithee, call me 'princess' no more! Marcus, wilt thou truly cherish me, the king's only daughter? Or is such a desire too dear to wish for!? After our nuptials, shall I become no more than a puppet? A mindless puppet, never to laugh, never to cry? I wish to live my life under the sky. At times I shall laugh, at other times cry. For no life is more insincere than that lived as a masquerade."

"So much consideration thou hast given it! But worry not! Cast away thy trappings of royalty, and I shall swaddle thee in a gown of pure love! Never again will I pare from thee! Pray, my love, make me thy canary to keep forever in the cage of thy bosom! Let us embark on the first ship tomorrow, before dawn can tell of our elopement!"

Garnet watched the whole play in silence. The play continued, showing that the love between a princess and a peasant was possible. Eventually, Cornelia was kidnapped and returned to her father. Cinna and "Marcus" waited for Cornelia by the docks. Garnet looked on jealously as she saw Cornelia's lover wait patiently for her. She clenched her fists and ground her teeth to fight back the tears, wishing that she had someone to wait for her. She turned her attention once again to the play. She didn't want to miss Marcus' final monologue.

"So, the sun is our enemy, too." came Marcus' voice. The sound system was still working just fine. "The eastern sky grows bright. Will we not spread our wings, as yonder birds in joyous flight?"

Cinna walked up to Zidane, still in his costume, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hark, Marcus! They cannot wait any longer! The ship departs!" Cinna ran back to catch the ship before it left, leaving Zidane alone on stage. He turned to face the two moons painted on the scenery's background.

"Could she have betrayed me?" came Marcus' concerned voice. "Nay, ne'er would my love speak false. I must have faith! She shall appear if I only believe! As the sun lends me no ear, I pray instead to the twin moons! I beseech thee, wondrous moonlight, grant me my only wish!" He grabbed a corner of his cloak and pulled it off.

"Bring my beloved Dagger to me!" Zidane said.

Garnet looked on in disbelief. She ran to the edge off the balcony and stared intently at Zidane, to make sure it was really him. He turned and ran to the doorway, but Steiner and Beatrix blocked her path.

"What are you doing?" Garnet asked, almost in tears.

"If you run down the stairs like that you might trip." Steiner said. Then he and Beatrix opened the double door.

"Go get him." Beatrix encouraged her.

Garnet smiled gratefully at them and proceeded to run down the stairway carefully. She ran out of the castle, and into the courtyard. There was an huge mob of people in her way. She pried herself between audience members and pushed others out of her way as she strained to reach the stage. However, her necklace, with the royal Alexandrian Jewel hanging on it, was ripped off of her neck in her struggle. She stopped as se watched it fall. She stood, conflicted as to what to run to. After a short moment, she turned around and continued running to the stage.

People started getting out of her way as she neared the stage. At the last steps, she leapt into the air and landed in Zidane's arms. He spun her as he caught her, then he pulled her close as she cried in joy. She punched his chest for making her wait for so long, then gave in and allowed him to pull her into a passionate embrace. The members of Tantalus, all their friends from their adventure almost a year ago, and everyone in the audience applauded loudly as the couple held each other on stage.

Their worlds melted together. They had each other and they would never be apart again.

----------------

Hours later, the audience from the play had all left. Vivi, Eiko, Freya, and all the others were invited to a celebration. Zidane and Garnet, or Dagger as she preferred to be called, stood on the balcony. Kuja told Zidane to wait on it alone with Garnet at ten o'clock, though for what Zidane didn't know. He and Garnet waited in each others arms.

"How did you survive...?" Garnet asked, breaking the silence.

Zidane turned to her with his trademark smile. "I didn't have a choice." he said. "I had to live. I wanted to come home to you. So... I sang your song. Our song."

"Zidane…" she trailed off. He looked at her deeper than he ever had before. His face edged closer to hers. Garnet turned away, a small blush forming on her cheeks. Zidane took his hand and brushed her cheek. She rested her head in his soft grip and gazed into his eyes. Zidane's hand crept behind her head and cupped it. He pulled her head towards his. Their lips brushed against each other softly. They hesitated for the slightest moment, then took each other in a deep, passionate kiss. They stood like that for a long while.

They only broke it apart when they heard the explosion in the distance.

Garnet tensed up in Zidane's arms as what sounded like shattering glass bounced off the castle walls. They looked high in the sky and saw a blue cloud form. A white chain of light sprouted from it and traveled in and out of the cloud, ending in a sound, like glasses being smashed together.

"What is that?" Garnet asked, afraid of another attack on Alexandria.

Zidane looked at it and smiled. "Don't worry. It's just a holy spell. Kuja must have cast it."

"Kuja's alive?" Garnet asked. A wave of panic flowing through her voice.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt anyone. He saved the Black Mages. He's good now."

"Really?" Garnet asked hopefully.

"Really." Zidane reassured her.

A Flare spell was launched in the distance and it exploded high in the sky. Garnet relaxed a little and gazed up at it. Even though these spells were deadly in combat, they looked just like fireworks from a distance. Kuja must have realized that at some point.

Zidane pulled her to the throne. It was big enough for the two of them to sit next to each other. As they sat, Zidane brought his arm around Garnet's waist and pulled her closer. Garnet grabbed onto Zidane neck and hugged him close. They watched as a Flare Star spell erupted in the night sky. It was a romantic setting, with the two of them alone and the beautiful magic being cast in the sky.

"Dagger." Zidane started. Garnet looked at him and saw that he was blushing a deep red. He looked deep into her eyes. "I love you."

Garnet's eyes widened as she heard him say it. She started to blush as well as she said, "I love you too."

They slowly took each other in another passionate kiss. They held each other as the fireworks continued in the distance.

Zidane finally broke the kiss a minute later and pulled Garnet into a hug. "By the way," he said. "There's something at Madain Sari that you should see."

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Krimson- Well, that was really fun to write.

Mr. McSandwich- Stop doing this to me.

Rashnefein- Alright, alright.

Krimson- I want to thank everyone who reviewed my story. You are all extremely awesome.

Rashnefein- Here here!

Damien- I got my name back!

Krimson- I think I learned a lot about writing during this whole experience. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

Rashnefein- Five bucks to anyone who understands the Madain Sari reference at the end there.

Krimson- Right, well, the story is done. I hope everyone enjoyed it.

Damien- Wait, if the story is done, then why isn't it listed as complete?

Krimson- …

Rashnefein- …

Krimson- _I'mnotplanninganything_.


	13. Deleted Scene

Krimson- Ladies and gentlemen. It's time for a special treat! This scene was the original idea for the Chapter 11 wake up scene. I had to change it because it was way too out of character. However, I didn't want to get rid of it. So an idea from Rashefein prompted me to make a secret 13th chapter for this story. Enjoy.

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Kuja was shaking Zidane, trying to get him to stir. After a few tries he shook his head and walked over to the girls, who were still waiting in the doorway.

"It's no good." he said. "We're going to need something to wake him up."

"Why don't I just jump on his stomach again?" Mikoto asked, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

"That won't work."

"How can you tell?" asked Lani, who was now leaning against the wall next to the doorway the conversation was coming from.

"When Mikoto did that last time, it was only as a last resort. At the time, Zidane was well rested and sleeping in a pile of leaves. Now that he hasn't gotten a decent night's sleep in a month and is sleeping on a silk lined bed, combined with Zidane's odd sleeping patterns, he's two steps away from being classified as comatose."

"What do we do then?"

"We'll need to wake him up the same way I did when we were trapped in the Iifa Tree."

Mikoto's eyes shot open in shock. "Are you sure that's necessary? What if it traumatizes him?"

"Well, that's where he lucks out. Thanks to the Valia Pora, I don't think we'll be able to wake him up for a while."

"Why? Do you need a monster?"

"Yes, but I doubt that any are left in the entire palace."

"Then someone really hates Zidane." Lani said. "Look." She pointed down the hallway as a Grimlock hobbled over the remains of the Valia Pora towards them.

"Perfect." Kuja said with a smile.

The Grimlock, seeing the three of them, ran to attack, as it had been trained. Kuja thought that it was almost cute in how pathetic it looked.

"Mikoto, may I borrow your knife?"

"Uh, sure." she said with the knife already in hand. She handed it over and Kuja rushed at the oncoming monster. The Grimlock roared a tiny roar as it prepared to attack its prey, but Kuja, in surprising speed, managed to stab each of the Grimlock's three faces before it had a chance to do anything. It fell to the ground in a heap.

Kuja picked up one of the sections. "Can you two give me a hand with this?"

Lani and Mikoto gave each other a confused look and walked over to help Kuja. They both picked up their own sections of the segmented monster. They looked at Kuja, wondering what to do next. "Follow me." he said.

Kuja led them back into the guest room and up to Zidane's bed. He held up his section over Zidane and cut its underside with Mikoto's knife. The dead Grimlock's entrails spilled over Zidane.

Mikoto and Lani looked on in stupefied horror for a moment before Mikoto spoke up.

"Kuja! What the hell are you doing!?!"

"I never said it was pretty. Now hand me the next section."

"No! This is way too disgusting!"

"Do you want him to wake up sometime this week or not?"

Mikoto looked at Kuja with a repulsed expression, sighed, and gave Kuja her section of the monster. Kuja disemboweled the second section of the Grimlock, but to no avail. Lani gave her section to Kuja without any fuss. In a sick, twisted way, this was kind of entertaining. The innards of the third section poured over Zidane. The three party members looked on as Zidane kept sleeping. Mikoto and Lani looked disappointed.

"If that didn't wake him up then what the hell will?" Lani asked angrily.

"This." Kuja knelt down so that he was level with Zidane. He cleared his voice and said, "Oh my! Is that Queen Garnet taking all her clothes off?"

Zidane's eyes shot open.

"Where?" he said enthusiastically. He tried to get up, but noticed something heavy, squishy and sticky laying on him. He looked down and saw the mass of monster guts set upon his chest and stomach.

He screamed.

Zidane jumped out of bed, running around, screaming, trying to get the blood and gore off of himself. Mikoto looked on in horror and guilt. Her eye twitched uncontrollably.

"Kuja you horrible bastard!"

Kuja was gripping his sides in an attempt to stop himself from laughing too hard. He missed waking Zidane up like this.

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Krimson- I think it's obvious why I had to change this. Hehehe.

Rashnefein- Wait. If this was already written and ready to be published before chapter 12 was even done, then why did it take so long to be posted?

Krimson- I just wanted to screw with every-… I mean, I wanted to give everyone a Christmas present and this was the only way I could think of.

Damien- I think I see an angry mob growing outside your house.

Krimson- … Yeah, I'm gonna go hide in the basement now.

Rashnefein- Merry Christmas people!


End file.
